The Shepard: Sailor Moon
by JMB4-01
Summary: Commander Shepard died during the attack on the Collector base. Or not. Resurrected once more, but this time in the Sailor Moon universe. What could go wrong when the battle hardened Spectre must work in tandem with the Sailor Guardians? (Male, Colonist, Renegade Shepard)(M for blood, and traumatic memories)
1. The Shepard cometh

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: THIS IS CHAPTER HAD BEEN REMADE IN THE HOPES TO ADD A BIT MORE CONTENT TO THE STORY**

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 **Heeeeeeey. So I just finished playing the original Mass Effect series and thought "Hey! How about a Sailor Moon/Mass Effect crossover?" Yeeeeeah, suuuuuuure.**

 **Here is Database entry from ME1 for Shepard.**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Origin: Colonist**

 **Reputation: Ruthless**

 **Specialization: Soldier**

 **Talents: Electronics**

 **And here is some other stuff.**

 **Hair Color: Brown**

 **Eye Color: Blue**

 **Height: 5'10**

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Death was nothing new to Shepard. He used to be terrified of it, both during and after he fought Saren. Luckily there had always been one more mission, one more planet to survey, or one more Geth base to raid too keep his mind of the lunacy of what he was doing. When he met his end the first time; sucked into the vacuum of space and left to suffocate from a breech in his suit, he had only a few moments to recognize that he was, in fact, going to die. But in those moments of his imminent demise he found that it didn't really bother him that much. Sure, it wasn't the way he always thought he was going to go, but he had finished the mission. He had stopped Saren, saved the galaxy, the Geth were no longer a threat, he was finally finished.

When Cerberus had brought him back he was….. well he didn't exactly know how he felt about it. In all reality he didn't have much of an opinion on it, Shepard had never been one for feelings in the first place. When he was told about the collectors and what they were up to he did what he had always done, get back up and push through. After all, what was one more mission?

The new Normandy was a nice touch, and although he didn't really show it he was grateful that Joker was still with him. Shepard was never much for getting close with the crew, he would throw in support as needed, but their mental and emotional problems were their own, not his. One thing he didn't understand was T'soni, he knew that she had had some form of crush on him but had never acted on it. Shepard, for his part would never ask either.

The second crew was okay, they did the job and did it well. Vakarian and Shepards views had always gotten along so he was no problem. Massani was a valuable part of the team as well, he did his job well, didn't ask questions, and had little to no emotional baggage that Shepard had to worry about. Shepard didn't have much of an opinion on Mordin, he was efficient and Shepard honestly couldn't care less about the Genophage so his views on it were no issue. Miranda ad Jacob were…. well they were Cerberus. Shepard got along with Jacob alright, they both were soldiers who were fed up with the Alliance. Miranda, despite being the less trustworthy of the two proved to be a valuable and asset to the team as well. She and Shepard had a sort of unwritten rule that said "stay off my back and I'll stay off yours".

Grunt was alright too. As long as Shepard pushed the right buttons he had one of the best fighters you could get be right behind him. A plus was that Grunt didn't really care how Shepard did things, which was something he was able to get use too. Jack, despite being a moody, annoying, brat actually turned out to be one of crew members that Shepard got along with the best. Once they had gotten used to each other they would sit down in the Normandy's dark underbelly and talk of their experiences. They never got into anything personal of course just missions, kills, weapons they had used for those kills, and once they had both gotten a kick out of listing off all of the people they wanted to see dead.

When Williams had declined to rejoin him on horizon Shepard really wasn't bothered. On the first Normandy he had always kept a policy of not telling his crew what they should and shouldn't do, that wasn't going to change the second time around. Besides, getting Tali back on was enough for him. Shepard had always liked Tali, not in a romantic sense mind you but more of a little sister type thing. Her innocence was something that Shepard could appreciate and he had always enjoyed talking about non-mission related topics with her. Thane was someone who Shepard could have done without, his combat skills were appreciated but his health complications were an issue, Shepard didn't want something to go wrong in the middle of a mission that would leave them one man down. In addition to this Shepard always just found the Drell…. Irritating, although he couldn't place why.

Legion was an anomaly, he hadmade his reasons perfectly clear and Shepard saw no reason to doubt him. Although, had the rogue Geth decided to turn on the crew, Shepard would phave had no qualms with blowing him into a thousand pieces on the spot. Samara's views were, at best, naïve. However, in spite of this Shepard did enjoy the talks they had. It was… refreshing to argue with an opposing view point.

But now it was all gone. The assault on the collector base had not gone quite as planned. Tali's death was unfortunate, the others too he supposed. He had discovered the collectors plan and put a stop to it, the downside was that he had lost his own life in the process. That wasn't what Shepard was hung up on though, he knew that the council and the Alliance would hardly listen to him, much less Joker. The Reapers were still coming, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Luckily, it really wasn't his problem anymore.

He had already given everything for the galaxy, and time and time again it had ignored his warnings and efforts, but no more. He was dead now, hopefully for good this time, he doubted Cerberus wanted to spend the money to bring him back again. He even further doubted that they could retrieve his body. He was now, at long last, asleep in the void.

Wait, something was different. He felt cold and that was a problem, he shouldn't be feeling anything! Then there was a warmth, it started in his chest and worked its way into his stomach and head, and then his arms and legs. It tingled when it came to his fingers, it felt oddly pleasant and yet he could not quite feel it. Suddenly there was light, it wasn't blinding like stepping out into the sun after sitting in a dark room, but was as if it were always there and you just hadn't bothered to notice.

Soon the feeling started to return, he could feel his limbs, his fingers clench. More importantly he felt an unnatural weight surround his body. It felt strange, it shouldn't feel right, yet he felt an odd sort of peace in its cold embrace. Why? Why did he feel so at ease while encompassed by the heavy, callous weight of the thing? He looked down and observed a sight that puzzled him. The thing was a hard shining black, on his right arm was a dark stripe of the most cheerless red.

 _Armor_ it was called. He remembered that. Suddenly he found he could speak, he knew words and phrases, names of places, people and things, and yet they meant nothing too him.

He tried to remember, but found he could not. There was nothing. Nothing but an endless expanse of meaning words, and pictures without an image. What had happened? Where was he? What was he?

 _Who was he?_

There was something, a name, he felt he knew it but it eluded him. What was it?

" **Shepard** "

It all came flooding back. Mindior, the Batarian attack, N7 training, missions completed through heavy losses, Saren, the Geth, the Reapers, the Collector base. Liara, Ashley, Kaiden, Wrex, Miranda, Jacob Zaeed, Garrus-Jack-Grunt-Mordin-TaliSamaraLegionThane. Death. Failure.

Everything suddenly came crashing down on him, and he fell to his knees. His helmet was still on, he realized. So were his weapons, he checked his ammo counter, full. That couldn't be right. He had used most of the ammunition for all of his weapons inside the Collector base.

" **I took the liberty of refilling them for you, I'm sure you won't mind** ," Said a voice, it came from all directions, reverberating through his very being and sending a shudder down to his bones. It sounded relatively female, the fact that it resounded all across the bright, white plain that shone before him made it quite hard too distinguish. It was odd.

In a normal situation Shepard's first instinct, being the uncompromising soldier that he was, would be to find out where he was, and what was going on. However at this point in time he happened to be a heavily disorientated, uncompromising soldier and was only able to shakily inquire as to the name of the disembodied entity.

" **I have no name, not one that you would recognized. However I hope that you will find what I have to say to be worth consideration."**

Shepard would have liked to snap out a comment about how it would be is decision, however at that moment he felt the strange compulsion to simply remain in his position on the ground and listen to the oddly soothing voice.

" **There is a world, one far removed from yours. A simpler one, one without Krogan, Asari or any other race with which you have become familiar. Aliens did at one point exist, however at first glance you would be unable to tell them from an ordinary Human. A conflict which should not have happened happened, and the Alien races were decimated. It was by a cruel twist of fate that your path in your own world was made to cease, but your time has not yet come to an end."**

" **There are several children in this world, reincarnations of an alien princess and her four bodyguards. Now they are hardly old enough to walk, but when they grow older their past will be revealed to them and they shall aspire to be the protectors of the world. When their burden is set upon them they will be not much older than fourteen, and I fear they will not be able to face the dark clouds that will surround them. Not alone at least."**

As the voice spoke Shepard felt a sensation which he had not felt since his family was slaughtered, peace. A nearly overwhelming calm that drowned out the weariness and worry the past years and allowed him to think clearly. He felt that he should be mistrustful, all of the instincts and training he had received over the years screamed at him to disregard the beings words as a trick. Yet, try as he could, Shepard could not bring himself to be suspicious. So he deigned to concentrate his attention on the voice as it continued.

" **This is why I wish to send you. You have seen the inside of the darkness, stared it in the face and pulled yourself out. Indeed the strength of will you possess is like nothing I have ever seen. If you are at all able to impart a portion that strength onto these five, to keep them safe while they progress through their trails, I would be most grateful."**

There was a small time of silence before Shepard spoke, his voice hard and focused, "You want me to babysit them?" That wasn't something Shepard was especially keen on doing.

A light giggle filled the air, once again Shepard felt his bones quiver.

" **Not exactly. I want you to guide them, lead them through the joyless times they may be forced to face. Teach them how to confront their fear, their pain, and their loss. Help them learn what their responsibly may require, and help them fight if necessary."**

Shepard was about to decline the offer, however an unwanted memory slipped its way into his mind. A memory of a young boy, a sole survivor of a ruthless massacre, sitting in an alliance medical bay his mind nearly lost and his spirit broken. Since that day Shepard had despised ungrateful children, most surrounded by love and joy and still unsatisfied.

In whatever world he might be sent too, there were five children that would eventually dive into something in which they had no business. Maybe their reasons were noble, maybe they weren't, but in the long run it didn't matter. He would teach them. He would teach them of the world they would rashly plunge into. Of the world they may think they understand.

But Shepard had one condition.

"What do I get out of it?" He said, he did not feel at all inclined to do this out of charity. The voice had said that they were toddlers now and wouldn't come into their own until they were at least fourteen. That meant that the assignment would take years!

" **What do you wish for? Unfortunately, I am not able to send you back to your own reality, as I stated before, in that world you are well and truly dead."**

Of course already Shepard knew what he wanted, and it had nothing to do with his world.

"If I complete the mission, will you kill me? For good?" Shepard had already had enough of life. This was the second time he would be brought back and he assumed that by the end of this he would be quite ready to throw in the towel.

The voice for its part was silent for a while. Though eventually it did speak again.

" **If that is what you wish. However, know that I would take no pleasure in the act."**

Shepard nodded.

"Then it's a deal. I'll wait for the kids, and when they come about I'll get them through whatever problems you think are going. I'll need information though, names, location, dates, that sort of thing."

" **I thank you, as for the data you require you shall find it on what you call your 'Omni-tool' when you awaken. I will give you what you ask for, as well as knowledge concerning the world itself, I hope you find it satisfactory. Should you have any questions, you need only to fall asleep and ask me."**

A glowing blue orb appeared around Shepard, and he could feel his senses start to fade away. Before he disappeared completely he heard the voice speak again.

" **Two more things before you go, when the Sailor Senshi to appear you will need all of your strength to assist them. Therefore, as the years pass you shall find that you will not age."**

Shepard's eyes opened slightly at that, the voice had said it as though it were an ordinary occurrence that he should be quite used to. Before he could present this point the being spoke again.

" **Secondly, upon awakening you shall find all of your equipment to be there waiting for use. Should you need any ammunition or parts, just ask."**

Shepard again felt himself start to wane, but before disappearing completely he had one last question.

"You said you have no name, what should I call you?"

He felt himself leaving now, being pulled out of wherever he was and being placed in another.

" **Antee'a"**

Then he opened his eyes.

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 **Okay, so this is the rehashed chapter, I think I have succeeded in my goal of adding more meat onto the story. I wanted to do this now so that later I wouldn't have to redo the whole thing, I hope it's a bit more interesting.**

 **Please leave review and I'll see you next time.**


	2. New life

**Heeeeey, I am here with an update. There is a chance that I won't post another one for at least a couple months because I may take a sort of sabbatical from the computer during the summer.**

 **I got a couple reviews on the first chapter, which I thank people for, and some things were brought to my attention that I need to clarify.**

 **First, this story takes place in the** _ **"Sailor Crystal"**_ **anime series. I am going to make the chapters episode based, so it will be one episode per chapter. I will also, of course, be adding some of my own stuff throughout it, so it won't be just the exact storyline of the show. Did that make sense? I hope so.**

 **The second thing I need to clear up is any confusion over Shepard's personality. In my opinion I think Shepard's personality is far too complex to describe in a short order. Therefore, I'll give you a basic outline, but I'm going to leave it to you guys to come up with your own impressions of Shepard as the story plays out.**

 **I was asked if Shepard would be just plain ruthless (Ordinary bad to the bone guy, willing to hear but not listen to others opinions) or more ruthless-ruthless (Willing to kill anyone and anything to complete the mission.) I am going to place my version of Shepard towards the more "ruthless-ruthless" category. While he won't kill indiscriminately, he has no issue with the less than humane treatment of his enemies. When it comes to civilian casualties you can think of the phrase "Kill millions to save billions." While he may not particularly enjoy killing innocent people, he won't hesitate to get his hands dirty if it means success.**

 **I hope that clears that up, as I said I want you guys to develop your own ideas of what Shepard's like.**

 **The four question was, when exactly is Shepard going to appear. Well in the prologue Antee'a (aka disembodied voice lady) said that the Senshi were hardly old enough to walk. So I'm thinking they're a bit over a year old, and as far as I know they're all around fourteen at the start of the series. The exact time Shepard enters the Sailor moon universe will be further discussed in this chapter, so hold your horses!**

 **I also got asked, "How long until Shepard beats the living s**t out of someone" well, originally I wasn't going to have that happen until a little later, but just for you I'll add in a little mugger bashing.**

 **Here goes either Chapter 2 or the Chapter 1, depending on what you view the prologue as.**

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Thirteen years. That's how long he'd been stuck here, waiting for the correct date to come about. Luckily, building an entirely new life from scratch kept him from having to sit and count minutes.

With some help from Antee'a, Shepard had begun by crafting a new personal profile. It was incredible to Shepard how easy hacking things was in this place and time. It might have just been his equipment, but when the time came the ex-spectre didn't have any trouble finagling his way into multiple government databases and placing several forged documents inside. Within a year of his stay, Eric Shepard became an average Japanese citizen. Well, a half American-Japanese citizen, since Shepard did not look at all Asian.

At first Shepard was going to set himself up in America, but then rethought it as his eventual charges did, in fact, live in Japan. So the twice deceased N7 had settled for being a well-educated Language arts teacher who made his home in a comfortable apartment located in Tokyo. In his old life, before his colony was attacked, and even after enlisting in the Alliance marines, Shepard had always remained fascinated by the different tongues of both earth and the galaxy. His Japanese was a little rusty, but after a quick refresher course he was speaking the dialect as naturally as though he had been born doing it.

The next five years seemed to go by in a flash for Shepard, between maintaining his cover, building a new life, and keeping an eye on his targets, he was a very busy man. Indeed, for a normal person constantly keeping a dossier on a group of young women for a long period of time would probably be seen as stalking. However, it is important to note that Shepard was far from a normal person, and quite honestly couldn't care less about what people thought of his parameters. Still, in order to not arouse suspicion all of Shepard's information gathering was done quite covertly. Meaning, he had Antee'a send him monthly updates on their activities, while he did a bit of surveillance. He had strategically placed his home in a location almost equidistant from the majority of the girls. Except for Makoto Anio, she resided a bit farther away than Shepard would have liked. Though thanks to his, seemingly all-knowing, partner in crime it wouldn't become that big of a problem until Shepard had to start personally keeping an eye on them. Luckily that probably wouldn't happen for a long while.

Unfortunately, after his total of six years in the world, Shepard started feeling something he hadn't thought he would ever come to feel: boredom. Commander Eric Shepard was bored. Shepard had, at one point, lived an action-packed life filled with anxiety, adrenaline rushes, and firefights. With all that gone, spy work on a few adolescent females proved to be extremely monotonous.

At least he had Antee'a to talk to though! She did provided some decent conversation, and when he conversed with her, at least he didn't have to look at the unusually large eyes everyone on this world seemed to have. In all seriousness though, Shepard did come to enjoy the talks he had with his "Invisible contact in the sky," as he had labeled her. Much like Samara, she provided an often contrary opinion and remained civil and collected through all controversy. As much as Shepard didn't want to admit it, he had become quite used to her being around, and in addition she also made one heck of an accountant.

Throughout all the waiting however, Shepard had never lost sight of his objective. So when the time did finally arrive that he would start his actually assignment, he was almost giddy. About as giddy as he could get at least, he had a smile on his face for a whole half-hour one morning.

He currently worked at the Juuban Middle school, as an assistant for the Language professor of class six. He was an aging man, who often had flashes of dementia as well as other medical issues that required him to stay home. This put Shepard in the position of kinda-sorta substitute teacher, as well as the manager of the professor's school-wise affairs, which weren't that much surprisingly. Ever if they were Shepard still would have minded the Job. The old man rather reminded him of Captain Anderson, if Captain Anderson had been an understanding, Japanese, family man by the name of, Nakasato Isoruko.

On this particular morning Shepard was passing by an alleyway on his way to the high school. An alleyway which happened to be one in which he had stopped a mugging in a short while ago. The N7 scoffed at the memory. He could have come up with better attack plans in his sleep.

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 _He had come down this way after his Cerberus-ly augmented hearing picked up a frightened yelp. Upon arriving at the scene he came across a young man and woman being held at knife point by a sort of ragged looking fellow. He didn't bother to try and pick up the words as he grew closer to the trio._

 _When he heard his approach the would-be bandit whirled upon Shepard, who took in the sight of the small knife that was being pointed at him with little more than a tired glance._

" _Shepard-sama," The girl squeaked. Almost all of the students knew of, or at least had hear of, the American born Language teacher who resided in the hallow halls of their school._

 _Shepard turned to the unlucky pair and said in perfect Japanese, "Head home, I'll deal with this."_

 _The mugger attempted to say something in protest but the students were already past him and off down the alleyway. Leaving him alone with the intimidating schoolteacher._

 _The glow of Shepard scarring had long since disappeared, however many of the scars themselves remained. This made the Soldier even more terrifying to the criminal, who had unknowingly backed himself in a corner when he chose to do his work in this particular fenced off passage._

" _Did you honestly think you could get away with this?" The almost thundering baritone threw the thief for a loop. A second ago the man had spoke with restraint and something nearing care in regard to the two classmates the mugger had ambushed. Now it sounded like the voice of the Grim Reaper himself, come to collect the soul of the unfortunate thug. This, in addition to being cornered, not only made the assailant scared it also made him aggressive._

 _The fight lasted about five seconds flat._

 _The thief threw a sloppy overhand slice which Shepard calmly sidestepped. Just before ramming an iron like fist into his enemy's stomach. That probably would have been enough, but in that one moment of bellicosity Shepard the Language Teacher, was replaced with Shepard the Alliance Marine, intent on showing his foe the error of his ways._

 _Without so much as a grunt, the N7 grabbed the crook by the neck, stood him up, took a step past him, and then slammed him into the hard concrete below. It was done in one clean, flowing moment that left the thief with a damaged spine and heavy concussion._

 _While walking away Shepard picked up the combatants weapon and said calmly, "You could've at least pick a better knife."_

* * *

Shepard released a contented sigh as he approached the school. He had stress building up for a while, it had been a good way to discharge some of his pent up frustration.

As he stepped through the doors, several students immediately moved out of his way. All giving polite bows to him, which he returned with a nod of his head.

A few hours later found Shepard sitting at his desk, which was located directly to left of the entrance to Mr. Isoruko's office. Shepard had just finished arranging several of the student's reports for grading when the man himself walked into the office.

He was a fairly well built gentleman, square shoulders and confident strides. One could tell he had been quite fit in his youth. He wore a pair of rectangular reading glasses that rested about halfway down his nose. His hair was brown, as were his eyes, and he slipped off his grey sports jacket as he entered.

"Ah, Shepard-san. How do things go?" He asked kindly.

"I have arranged the student's reports on your desk for grading. I've already reviewed their work, all that's left is for you to sign off on it." Shepard gave his commentary, years of military training making him remain stiff as a board while addressing his superior.

Mr. Isoruko quietly chukled at the spectacle. He had told Shepard on multiple occasions that he needn't be so rigid, however Shepard had always insisted on being professional at all times. He, and his résumé, had never said anything about him being in the military, but Isoruko wasn't stupid. He knew a soldier when he saw one. However, he had grown to trust Shepard in the relatively short time they had worked together and had decided not to question him about it.

"Very good, why don't you head home for the day?"

Shepard looked up from a file he was browsing through, "Are you sure?" he asked, with a half raised eye brow.

Isoruko smiled and nodded, "Yes, I've finished the last classes of the day and do think I'll be heading home soon."

"Very well, sir. The reports will have to be graded as soon as possible however." Shepard subtly hinted at the reports the Mr. Isoruko had likely forgotten about.

His speculation proved true as the professor gained a shocked look on his face and said, "Of course! How could I have forgotten?" He quickly turned around and sat down at his desk.

Shepard grabbed his coat and briefcase and stepped out the door. He of course knew the reason Isoruko forgot, however he wasn't as insensitive as to tell him that. In the short time he had known the old man Shepard had come to like him, he never pried into anything, rarely got upset, and was brutally honest. It seemed like the term "Couldn't tell a lie" described the Professor perfectly.

In spite of this however, Isoruko presented a major threat. Despite his easy going exterior the Professor was extremely intelligent, and Shepard did not doubt that his superior already had a theory concerning him. The unfortunate fellow may not have known it, but he walked a fine line. If he discovered too much, then Shepard would be forced to dispose of him. Accidents happened, and Shepard would prefer not to be discovered this far into his mission. As he exited the school he happened to spot one-fifth of said mission about forty yards ahead of him, speaking to one of her friends as she walked.

Usagi Tsukino was, for lack of better term in Shepard's mind, tremendously annoying. She was always late, hardly ever paid attention, and was exceedingly clumsy. How she could be one of the people who were supposed to protect this earth he'd never know.

While Tsukino wasn't in the class he assisted with, Shepard had no problem acquiring her score sheets and was, less than impressed. He hoped she wasn't an important one of the five, he didn't want to spend any longer around her than was necessary.

In regard to the rest of his objectives, they all had been coming along nicely. Ami Mizuno attended Juuban and was turning into quite the genius, Shepard had no doubt she could give Tali and maybe even Liara a run for their money.

Rei Hino was had proven to be emotionally restrained and quite psychologically competent in most situations, other than that Shepard didn't have much to say about her. She led a simple life as a shrine maiden and attended some form of Roman Catholic school. Shepard worried about her the least.

Makoto Kino was set to be transferred to Juuban and Shepard had seen to it that she was placed in Mr. Isoruko's class. The unfortunate loss of her parents a short time ago hadn't reaped any major emotional negatives that Shepard new of, however he wanted to keep his eye on her, and what better way to do that then have her be in the class he helped oversee?

Minako Aino was the most promising so far. A short while ago she had discovered her abilities and had started hitting the streets under the guise of "Sailor V". Shepard had been keeping a close eye on her, but felt it would be better to reveal himself to all the Senshi at once rather that one at a time.

At this time Shepard had reached the school parking lot, where he promptly entered his car and drove to his apartment. The mentioned living space was, while not very large, quite well suited for providing any living space Shepard required.

It consisted of four rooms; a main room, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The majority of which all had the same color scheme, consisting of a white ceiling with light blue walls and a sort of pale blue carpet. The main room wasn't really much to look at, a couch sat up against the wall with a small coffee table in front of it. There was a coat rack in the corner and a doormat placed, much like the name suggests, in front of the door.

The kitchen held all of Shepard's culinary necessities; a jug of milk, and a jug of orange juice sat in a small white refrigerator by the window while a decent sized stack of standard U.S military issue MRE's sat neatly in one of the cupboards. Shepard had lived most his life on military rations and didn't care to try and change his habits, therefore he was pleasantly surprised to find that military rations didn't taste much different in this world than in his.

The small eatery also housed a small micro wave, a sink, an over which Shepard almost never used, and another cupboard which held one plate, one bowl, one basic set of utensils, and one drinking mug. Despite living in Japan Shepard had never really started using Chopsticks, mostly because he never went out to eat, and also because he never really ate anything other than the pre-prepared food which sat in0 his other cupboard. The kitchens floor, unlike most of the other rooms, had a white tile flooring, something it shared with the bathroom

In said bathroom there was, exactly what you'd expect to be in a bathroom. Shower, toilet, sink, mirror, as well as Shepard's toiletries which included his toothbrush, tooth paste, dental floss, mouthwash, and other basic items.

The bedroom was probably the most interesting part of the living space. In the corner there was a small cot which severed as Shepard's bed, next to it there was a dresser with three drawers, which contained his more casual garments. On the other side of the room sat a desk and a chair, hanging about which was a large map of Tokyo. Next to the desk sat a padlocked filing cabinet which contained everything he had on the Sailor Senshi. Every piece of knowledge he had, every observation he had made lied inside that filing cabinet, so of course he had made sure it was adequately secured.

See this was no ordinary Filing cabinet, no, it was one he had specifically requisitioned from Antee'a. One that just so happened to be specifically keyed to his DNA so that anyone else who tried to gain access those files, would receive a wakeup call consisting of 7000 volts of electricity.

Then of course there came the closet, which turned out to be surprisingly spacious. It was also locked up and secured the same way as the files, although for a different reason. Behind the white door there was, not only Shepard's finer clothing for his job at the school, but in a neat pile off to the side proudly sat his N7 battle armor, polished and shiny. There were also a two pairs of grey sneakers, a pair of dress shoes, and a foot locker containing, not only his weapons, but enough grenades and ammunition to last at least a few days of straight fighting.

Shepard had arrived back at his apartment at roughly five thirty, and had a simple plan for the rest of the night. He had received intelligence from Antee'a that Usagi Tsukino would be making her first appearance as her alter-ego tonight. Whether or not she would regain all of her memories was still up-in-the-air though. So the ex-spectre planned on donning his armor for the first real op in years, and staking out Tsukino's house. When she made a move, he would be watching.

* * *

Shepard had gotten set fast. He had his armor on, and his weapons loaded up for the thing he had been waiting for, for near fourteen years now. After tonight he had a feeling things were going to start kicking off, and frankly he was read for some action. He decided to only bring his M-97 Viper and his M-6 Carnifex for this mission, as he didn't think he'd need to do much, if any, fighting.

After a quick review of his equipment Shepard was out the window. One thing he greatly appreciated about the N7 armor was how flexible it was. Granted it was a little difficult to get out the small viewing space, but once he did, it was easy to maneuver down into the back streets and make his way toward Tsukino's home.

Upon his arrival it was nearing seven o'clock, just starting to get dark. Shepard had purposely taken his time getting here, as he was aware that his target liked to stop at an arcade and play video games for as long as she was able. He was surprised she wasn't home yet though, perhaps she had to take a detour.

Just then he saw her coming down the street, her head up and hands clasping her brief case in front of her. Upon her entering her home there was a brief period of silence during which Tsukino's younger brother walked up to the house, then there was a shout, and Usagi Tsukino was being pushed out the door by her mother. The next few moments were rather comical. Tsukino started yelling at her brother, then attempting to kick him as he closed the door, resulting in her injuring her foot. Shepard would have to teach her how fight properly. He was reeeeeally looking forward to that.

Tsukino banged on the door for a little while before finally being let back inside. His entertainment now gone, it was time for the war-hero to play the waiting game. So play it he did.

* * *

It turned out Shepard didn't have to wait long at all. About 45 minutes of 'crouching in a grove of trees' later, through her open bedroom window, he saw her flop down onto her bed. Not long after, a sleek black cat jumped up onto her window sill and proceeded to take a swipe at Tsukino's nose. The girl in question sprung up from her bed making a startled explanation and then stared at the cat for for a while. Then she just laid back down on her bed, no yelling or anything. She just flopped back down like a sack of potatoes.

He couldn't make out the words she was speaking, but he saw her spring back up and grab something out of the cat's outstretched paw. It looked like a brooch of some kind, not the strangest thing he'd ever seen but cats didn't normally act as a delivery service, at least as far as he knew. Coming to the conclusion that it had to be some sort of unknown animatronic Shepard raised the Viper and took aim, you could never be too careful.

He was so focused on the cat/robot that he didn't pay much attention to Tsukino looking at herself in a mirror. A bright light turned on, and he heard her say some something along the lines of, "Moon Prism Power, Make-up!" Shepard blinked. What in the…

The light intensified and when it died down Tsukino was in a white sailor costume leotard, complete with a large red bow on the front, and a blue mini-skirt. She also wore white gloves and red knee high boots. Her hair was still the same but the two balls on the top of her head now sported red discs. On her forehead there was now a golden tiara with a red gem in the center.

In Shepard personal opinion she looked ridiculous, but then again beggars couldn't be choosers. Apparently she had discovered her powers, or something like that. Shepard didn't really understand how the whole thing was supposed to work. Still though, he would like to see how the fabric of her "uniform" held up in combat.

He was pulled out of his musing when the girl made an exclamation and then rushed out of her bedroom door, the cat hot on her heals. A few seconds later they were out the front door and headed down the street. As Shepard took off after them he concluded that her family was either asleep or extremely unobservant if they didn't notice what looked like someone straight out of some twisted version of the future rushing through the hallway.

* * *

They ended up at a large jewelry store that belonged to one of Tsukino's friend's mother. That must have been why she was in such a rush. He didn't know how she knew something was wrong but apparently she was right. Shepard still wanted to check her combat prowess, so he took up position on top of a small café and used the enhanced scope on the Viper to peer through the window.

Tsukino's confrontation with the "Old Hag", as she had adequately dubbed her, was still in its prime when she started yelling.

"I am the pretty guardian in a sailor suit, guardian of love and justice Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon I'll punish you!"

What. The hell. Shepard resisted the urge to do a face palm. If she was trying to intimidate her foe she was doing a terrible job. The stance she took was more suited to a magazine cover.

He heard some shouting coming from her opponent, then saw a crowd of red eyed people come shambling down the street toward the shop. Their skin had turned an odd shade of grey, and the way they moved about eerily reminded him of husks. He was about to open fire when he took another look at the scenario.

This could prove to be a fantastic trial run for "Sailor Moon's" abilities. If things got out of hand Shepard would step in, but he wanted to get some more information first.

The fight, if you could call it that, was almost comical. Tsukino ran in a circle around a showcase before she was pinned between one of the indoctrinated civilians and their larger force. Then she started screaming. He had to admit, the noise she generated even caused him to wince.

"Stop crying Sailor Moon, do it now!"

Shepard checked his motion tracker, up on a balcony to the far left. He couldn't make out who it was, but he would need to keep an eye on it. That was, until he heard and saw something even more disconcerting.

"Do it now Sailor Moon! Take the tiara! Scream 'Moon Tiara Boomerang'!" The cat…talked. And if that wasn't enough the little fur-ball was giving Tsukino instructions on how to use her equipment! He wasn't that surprised really. After all, he had seem some very strange things in his time and a talking cat hardly topped the list. He was simply…unprepared for it.

Tsukino follow the cat's directions to a tee. After simply being touched, the tiara appeared in her hand spinning like a top. She yelled what she was instructed and hurled the circlet at the old woman, if that's what she actually was. Shortly thereafter the target crumpled over and disintegrated into a pile of dust, and the people surrounding Tsukino lost their morbid hues and slumped over onto the ground.

Shepard then turned his eyes back to the balcony to find a man standing on a window ledge. He was decked out in a complete three piece suit. White gloves, shirt, bowtie, and vest with black slacks, shoes, and long tailed suit-coat. The most profound parts about him however, were a large gold pocket watch, a top hat, a long black cape, and a white eye mask that didn't do a good job of covering his eyes.

The man leapt off the window sill to a lamp post, Tsukino ran out after him and stopped on the street corner. He dramatically jumped off the lamp and Shepard could barely make of the words, "My name is Tuxedo Mask," before he "disappeared" into the night. Shepard could clearly see him running across a rooftop not too far from his position and decided that, with Tsukino's problem dealt with, and her capabilities observed, he would go see who this new jokester was.

Sticking to the shadows Shepard charged after Tuxedo Mask, who had significantly slowed his pace allowing Shepard to easily catch up. The suit wearing moron didn't even know what hit him.

* * *

Mamoru Chiba had just left his first run in with Sailor Moon. He had to admit she was a lovely girl, though she appeared a bit inexperienced. His blood was racing from his quick get away, and he was about to take a deep breath to calm down when something big, black, and hard slammed into his side. The forced from the blow sent him tumbling across the rooftop, his side ached and would probably bruise. As he started to get up, he was kicked hard in the chest which sent him rolling even farther. This time though he stood up quickly and launched a right hook at the assailant, it didn't go as he planned. His first was caught almost casually, and then Mamoru got his first good look at his enemy.

The thing had to be at least six feet tall, wrapped in armor black as midnight the gleamed under the moon. A long dark red stripe ran down its right arm, from its shoulder guard down to its gauntleted hand. The helm copied the style with the same dark red streak going from the top of the neck, over the dome of the head, down to the tinted black glass visor.

He was torn out of his inspection when he was roughly grabbed by the lapel, hefted over the things head and body slammed into the ground. Whatever this thing was, it was strong.

All the air had been driven from his body, and Mamoru could only watch as creature ripped off his white mask. It paused to study his face and then released him, dropped the fabric that protected his identity on the ground next to him, and stormed off to the side of the roof.

Mamoru was still gasping for breath, but managed to wheeze out a pathetic, "What are you?"

The only sign the thing gave that it heard him was a slight turn of its metal head. It didn't even grace him with an answer before it leapt off the roof and into the alley below.

His top hat long since fallen off, Tuxedo mask rolled over to place a hand on his now throbbing back. Despite the pain, the encounter had taught him something. That being the fact that he had gotten much too comfortable. He would have to be more careful if whatever this thing was had made Tokyo its new stomping grounds.

* * *

 **Aaaaand scene! So what did you think? Was installment #2 all that you had hoped for? I sure hope so because it took for friggin' ever to write. Probably one of the longest things I ever written as a matter of fact.**

 **First off let me say that I am very sorry if I got any franchise information wrong, and I apologize if I used –san and -sama wrong when he was talking with professor what's-his-face and the students. If I did get anything wrong please let me know.**

 **Also let me know what you think about the story in general. I know that there wasn't much of any action, and I know that all the exposition probably got monotonous, but I really wanted to use this chapter to explain where Shepard stood with the world. If you've got any questions please review, if you've seen anything that was incorrect please review, if you've got nothing to say then, hey, review anyway because why the heck not?!**

 **Regards,**

 **JMB401**


	3. The Genius

**SUP YO! It's me, back with another THRILLING instalment of "The Shepard: Sailor Moon". This time it's the addition of Ami Mizuno! Also featuring a bit of explanation concerning Shepard and Antee'a/Mysterious entity's relationship, but not much. That will come out a bit more in future chapters.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Shepard scowled as he marched up the steps of Jubaan Middle school. One could say that Shepard always scowled, however there happened to a difference between his ordinary half-frown and his current glower. The target of his irritation was the events of the previous night. In a lapse of judgement he had left Usagi Tsukino unsupervised and turned his attention to the one known as "Tuxedo Mask" who, after inquiring of Antee'a, Shepard had discovered to be one Mamoru Chiba; a local high school student.

After leaving the scene of his and Chiba's battle, Shepard had immediately realized what a waste of time his detour was. Normally he would have left the unknown alone and continued his overmatch of Tsukino. It should have been the case last night, given that Shepard had deduced that Chiba was no threat as soon as the man left the scene. However, it seemed to the N7 that after 15 years of doing nothing, all of his pent up aggression, paranoia, and frustration had managed to break through to the surface. Thinking of this only served to deepen Shepard's scowl, his lack of control was unacceptable. If he were to get distracted again while conducting surveillance on the Senshi it could very well lead to their, and perhaps his, untimely demise.

Shepard was nearing Mr. Nakasato's office now, he would contemplate how to resolve this problem after the day was over. He stopped in front of the door to allow his expression to return to normal, upon entering he took notice that Mr. Nakasato was missing, which mean he was either already in his classroom waiting for the day to start or he was at home nursing a cough. Since Shepard had not received any notifications from his superior he could assume it was the former. Still, there was no harm in being sure so after setting down his briefcase the ex-spectre headed off towards the class six home room.

* * *

Usagi Tsukino unenthusiastically sat in class. Last nights escapade had been extremely tiring, and having to rush to school this morning certainly didn't help. The last thing she wanted her teacher to make her think of was the test she had to take later today, unfortunately English teachers rarely tell you to take a nap in the middle of class. Usagi's energy spontaneously returned, however, as soon as the lunch bell range and she bolted out of her seat and grabbed her lunch box. If there was one thing Usagi Tsukino liked more than sleep, it was food. She was immediately met by her best friend Naru Osaka, and the two made their marry way out of the class room.

"So, Usagi are you ready for our English test?"Naru said, her jovial tone of voice betraying her glee at teasing her friend, though Usagi was less than pleased with the notice and hung her head as she replied.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I've hardly studied at all, I'm gonna fail again I just know it."

"Perhaps if you spent less time playing games after school you wouldn't have this problem."

Both Usagi and Naru's heads snapped to the direction of the uncannily calm voice. Walking beside them was none other than the most terrifying person in their school, Attila the Professor, the Bringer of Bad Grades, the Boogey-Man of Juuban, Mr. Eric Shepard. Ever since he had arrived at the school, near a decade ago, a multitude of students had devised considerable amounts of conspiracies surrounding the intimidating man. No one really knew where he came from or what he used to do, but if the numerous scars that marred his face, and the way he was seemingly able to appear out of thin air were anything to go by, most had assumed that he was some kind of hit-man.

There was one thing that the students did know about Mr. Shepard though, if you wanted to live a peaceful life at Juuban Middle School, than you would respect him. Therefore Naru and Usagi promptly bowed and said a quick greeting.

Shepard bowed his head a bit and said in his tranquil yet stern voice, "Education is extremely important, Miss Tsukino. I assure you anything Miss Sakurada teaches you will come into use at some point in your life."

Usagi looked down and started shuffling her feet, "I know, It's just… studying's so hard."

Mr. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her as he replied, "Nothing good ever came from doing the easy thing. However, if you believe that analyzing you coursework is indeed that difficult, than might I recommend speaking with Ami Mizuno. She is in your class, blue hair and blue eyes. I believe you'll find speaking to her about this particular issue to be very… enlightening." With that Shepard turned and walked down the hallway, disappearing around a corner.

Usagi released a breath she didn't know she was holding and leaned against the hall wall. Mr. Shepard rarely spoke to any students outside of class six on any topics other that school business. Even rarer still was him coming to talk to them, normally he would've just sent for them and meet them in his office.

"That was weird." Said Naru, voicing Usagi's exact thoughts. "He never talks to _anybody_ outside class six!"

"I don't know Naru." Said Usagi as they started walking again.

"I just wish we knew more about him. He could be a serial killer for all we know!"

As rude as Usagi found that statement she couldn't blame her friend for her suspicions. The man was like a blank screen, with that perpetual scowl and those odd looking scars, him being a psychopath wasn't really that far out of the ballpark. Heck, she still remembered when Umino had first told her about Mr. Shepard. What a weird conversation that had been.

* * *

 _ **Begin Flashback**_

 _Usagi was standing just outside the school with Umino and Naru when she spotted a man coming out the front doors. He stood about five ten, and was surprisingly muscular for a teacher. His eyes were a deep brown, almost black, and their color agreed perfectly with his short reddish brown hair, which was neatly combed back in the front. His face looked especially haggard; he had a flat nose, sunken eyes, slightly gaunt cheeks, an angular face, and thin lips that were bent into a light frown._

 _He passed by them quickly and if he noticed her staring he didn't show it. Her insatiable curiosity peaked, and not noticing how quiet her friends had gotten when he passed, Usagi half turned to Umino and asked quietly, "Who was that? I don't think I ever seen him before."_

 _Umino looked to her like she was crazy. "You've never seen him before? You must have, he makes regular circuits around the school during that day!"_

 _You see Usagi had a very selective memory, and while she may have seen him before, she hadn't really dubbed him very important. However, that was about to change as the conversation continued._

" _Yeah yeah, but who_ is _he?"_

 _Umino sighed and checked to make sure the man was gone before answering, "That was Shepard-sama, or just Mr. Shepard as he prefers to be called and he's worked at the school for about ten years now."_

" _But that's not the important part," Umino's voice dropped as he started again, like he was discussing some top secret information. "Nobody really knows a thing about what Mr. Shepard did before he started teaching, just that he's been to collage and was born American, or something like that."_

 _Umino looked around again and Usagi and Naru leaned in, intrigued. "The official story around the school is that he's Nakasato-sama's assistant, but rumor has it that he really manages a lot of the school programs and helps most of the other teachers with their syllabuses."_

" _So he helps out other teachers? What's so bad about that?" asked Naru. While she knew_ of _Mr. Shepard, and that their where some… theories about him, she wasn't really aware of the extent of the conspiracies._

" _Hold on, I haven't gotten to the good stuff yet." Said Umino clearly a bit irritated about being interrupted. "Given the information gap that makes up most of Shepard's life, many students have taken it upon themselves to try and fill the data rift."_

" _There's multiple theories, some say that he was a hitman for some secret organization, some that he was a special-ops operative, a gang leader, and one even says that he's an experimental soldier that was trained as an assassin by a secret organization from birth!" He was pacing now, and stopped to adjust his glasses as he finished, "That last one is, of course, ridiculous."_

 _Usagi and Naru looked at each other and then back to Umino neither of them really wanted to ask the next question, but they both felt as if it had to be asked. So Naru took the plunge. "And what do you think about him?"_

 _He grinned as he prepared to launch into an explanation, "Well, obviously he's an alien!"_

 _Usagi promptly stopped listening after that._

 _ **End Flashback**_

* * *

"Usagi? You there?"

"Huh?!" Usagi's train of thought derailed at Naru's question, the one she hadn't really heard.

"Are you going to talk to the Ami Mizuno girl?" Said Naru, sounding exasperated.

"I don't know, probably. Shepard-sama seemed to think it was good idea, sooo…"

"Well he's not wrong. From what I've heard Ami Mizuno is like, super smart! Besides, it's not like anything bad could happen!"

Usagi smiled as they continued to walk. She could think about this later, right now lunch was calling.

* * *

After Shepard had departed from Tsukino and Osaka he had left to check on Mizuno, though he didn't plan on speaking to her. Hopefully, pointing her out to Tsukino would take care of her introversion. Given that she may have reveal herself to the public at some point Shepard didn't want her to pass out because she had to talk to someone, that and she would have to work with two of the most extroverted people that Shepard had ever heard of. Best to have her get used to it know.

He quickened his pace as he walked, he preferred to make his observation quickly and then move on to other matters. He had to review the work a two students whom he suspected of unethical conduct. Shepard was fully aware that he could be wrong, but was not nearly as trusting to not look into the matter.

He suddenly envisioned a picture of Tali, giggling in failure to hide her amusement at Shepard's situation. He blinked and lightly shook his head to clear away the image, over the past few months he would, at times, receive random memories of his days on the Normandy, at others he would find himself picturing his old comrades reacting to certain situations he had found himself in over the past few years.

It was pointless to Shepard, he had no reason to doubt Antee'a in her long-past statement of his incapability to return to his own universe. If he was completely honest with himself, and he always was, he did not, in any large way, desire to go back. The only thing left for him there was war and death. The Reapers **were** coming, and the galaxy didn't have the best track record of listening to his warnings. In fact, given his connection to Cerberus, he would not have a place to return to, at least in the alliance, at all. After some of the actions he had taken to achieve success he would only get, at best, a discharge and at worst, Imprisonment.

Shepard ceased walking when he came to a sudden realization. He had been away from his world for a minimum of fifteen years and, although he didn't know how long exactly it would've been before the Reapers arrived, that amount of time would have been quite long enough. After all, for all he knew the 1990's in this world could be 2185 In his. Shepard rubbed his eyes as he continued his trek, he shouldn't be worrying. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it, and besides, in his opinion whatever the galaxy got, it deserved.

* * *

Usagi jovially skipped out of her schools front door, she had done a bit of "information gathering" on Ami Mizuno earlier in the day, courtesy of Umino, but had neglected to make effort towards contact. She had planned on talking with her after school but, during her excitement to go to the arcade, she may or may not have completely forgotten her original plans.

She would have continued prancing along her merry way to the other side of the street, were it not for her spotting the object of her forgotten campaign. There stood Ami Mizuno, just as Mr. Shepard had described her, rubbing Luna's head. Usgai grinned as her objective, which she had defiantly not forgotten, became that much simpler.

"Hi! You're Ami Mizuno, right?!" Beamed Usagi as she seemingly bounced her way over.

The other girls shy nature came out in droves in light of someone else addressing her, and she uncertainly clasped her hands together, and subtly sunk her head as she replied. "Um, y-yes I am."

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Usagi Tsukino, and that's my cat, Luna!" said Usagi, pointing to said cat while remaining completely ignorant of Ami's uneasiness.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know!" Cried Ami, fearful that she had, in some way offended the golden haired girl. This way however, not the case.

"That's ok, I don't mind." Smiled Usagi, tilting her head to the side as Luna jumped down to her feet and rubbed up against her ankles.

"I… saw her fall from the tree and… thought she was an angel." Mumbled Ami, still a bit nervous despite her conversational companion's forgiving attitude.

Usagi laughed light heartedly and glanced down at her cat, "An angel, huh?"

"Uh, y-yeah." Said Ami, the first hints of a smile breaking through into her expression, as a soft blush appeared on her cheeks.

Usagi smiled again before looking down towards Luna then back up at the blue haired genius, "Hey, would you like to go the arcade with me." As she said that she leaned forward a bit, causing Ami to unnoticeably learn back.

A slightly shocked expression was on her face as she replied, "An arcade? Um, o-okay."

Usagi nearly jumped for delight as she seized the shy bookworm's wrist and took off down the street. Squealing with joy and emitting an enthusiastic, "Great! Let's go!"

Ami was dragged along behind her, a light, almost amazed smile on her face.

* * *

It was into the evening now, the encounter between Tsukino and Mizuno had gone excellently. Neither of the females in question had noticed his watchful gaze, and from his vantage point near the school doors he had monitored their conversation. Given his distance however, even with his enhanced hearing, he wasn't able listen in on the dialogue. That is, he wouldn't have been able to if he hadn't taken a page from Miranda Lawson's book and installed a collection of audio bugs throughout the school and its surrounding area. For security purposes of course.

He was sitting next to his bed, cleaning his Carnifex. He had never actually bothered to get used to sleeping on the feathery mattress, although, he had collapsed into its soft embrace once or twice on the rare nights when he was extremely exhausted. He had never slept in his bed on the Normandy either, preferring to sleep on the floor. Firstly because he believed in the saying, "It builds character" and secondly because it was infinitely easier to wake up from a solid surface than a fluffy sinkhole.

So now he sat, as peacefully as he could, switching glances between his pistol, the door, and the window. Although there was very little chance of someone actually being able to gain access to the room through those openings, it never hurt to be cautious. Over the years, Shepard had turned his apartment into a virtual fortress. He had, over time of course, purchased a variety of house-hold appliances, car parts, and various other miscellaneous items. Discreetly stripped them of pieces, and applied them across his living space to create one of the most defensible homes in, possibly, all of Japan.

Using a combination of screws, and the fuel from a few model rocket engines, he had created an explosive charge that he placed inside his bedrooms, outside door handle. Using thin copper wires, and a few car batteries, he made high voltage grids that he mixed in with his window screens. The dishwasher was rigged with a homemade smoke machine, the oven with a flame thrower, the overhead fan in the living room could release a corrosive gas, the lights bulbs could basically be used as hand grenades, and the tiles in the bathroom exploded into a poisonous mixture of the N7's own design. Given that these were but a few of the traps Shepard had jury-rigged, trying to get to him at home was a very bad idea.

He smirked at that thought, and laid the hand cannon next to himself as he eased himself onto the rugged floor. Lying on his back with the pistol lightly clutched in his right hand, Shepard closed his eyes, and upon opening them again he was back in the bright, white plane that he had become very familiar with over the past years.

" **I've said it once, I've said it a million times, why don't you sleep on the bed?!"** The exasperated voice of his other worldly compatriot came, warm and refined, with a touch of humor just like normal.

"And my answer has always been the same. Efficiency."

He could almost hear the smile on her none-existent face when she spoke again, **"Welcome back, Shepard. Do me a favor and try not to change until your mission is complete? How will I remain entertained?"**

Shepard raised an eyebrow and started walking while he countered, "I'm sure you'll be able to dig up some other disgruntled soldier to keep you company."

Her laugh rang through the 'air' and he couldn't help himself from smirking just a bit. It was almost impossible not to when in her presence.

" **I trust the day has gone well?"**

"Not sure why you're asking me. You saw it all happen didn't you?"

She lowered her voice and spoke in an almost teasing whisper, " **Yes, but it's much more fun to have someone tell me about it."**

Shepard rolled his eyes but obliged her request, relaying to her everything that had transpired throughout the day. Although she could, at times, be rather immature she was, in a way, the ex-Spectre's employer. Therefore she had the right of access to any mission intelligence that she deemed necessary.

When he had finished with his account of the diurnals events she hummed her melodious hum, and sent an observation his way. **"It seems as though you may benefit from a bit of education in the social environment."**

Shepard scowled a bit. She was constantly trying to get him to break out of the cold professionalism he had developed over the years, and be more open and caring to people around him. It happened to be one of the things he could do without. His job was to watch over five, adolescent children, not make friends with them.

"How many times must I tell you that becoming un-attentive during any point in this mission could, in a best case scenario, result in a breach in security that could cause significant bodily hard to myself, as well as the Senshi. In the worst case, the exact same breach could end in the destruction of everything we have worked to build."

He said all of this as he always did. With a perfectly straight face, and hardly any vocal fluctuation.

" ***sigh*, your uncompromising nature never ceases to amaze me. However if you don't-"**

There was a pause. Antee'a never paused in the middle of a sentence.

"What is it?"

" **Shepard, something's wrong!"**

As soon as the last words sounded the addressed man was ready to move. He just needed to know one thing.

"Where?"

* * *

His feet pounded through the light puddles that accumulated on the roofs of the many flat-topped buildings making up this particular part of Tokyo. Shepard had always liked the rain, but at this time it did little to sooth his raging frustration. He had screwed up. He had known that there was something wrong with Crystal Seminar when he first looked into it, but he had judged it to be nothing more than his nerves. Now, however, he was wishing he had further considered their illegitimacy.

When Ami Mizuno had accepted a scholarship for this particular school, Shepard had done a significant amount of research concerning their background. It all seemed to be in order but he wasn't able to shake the feeling that something was up and, oh how right he had turned out to be.

As it happened, Ami Mizuno had apparently been attacked by… well Shepard wasn't really sure. When Antee'a had expressed her knowledge of there being trouble at the Crystal Seminar school building, he had assumed it had something to do with the blue haired Genius. Once again, he turned out to be correct.

When he reached an acceptable vantage point he whipped out his Viper sniper rifle and took aim at the abomination that was towering over the two young females. The first being none other than Ami Mizuno who was standing, wide eyed, behind one of the desks, and the second being Usagi Tsukino who was decked out in her Sailor Moon suit and stuck to the wall, courtesy of a large assortment of papers.

" _She must've gotten her into a jam while trying to help Mizuno."_ He thought as he aimed down his scope. He didn't want to reveal himself to the girls just yet, but hopefully he could slow down the creature long enough for the two to get themselves clear.

He fired off a suppressed shock round towards a light fixture above the abomination. The electrified Mass Effect round shattered the glass covering and sent of shower of sparks down on the beast which stumbled and screeched from the sudden pain. Unfortunately, instead of dissuading the creature it only seemed to set it off more. As Shepard lined up another shot, thinking he might just have to take the thing down himself and bright blue light started to shine from across the room. When he look he saw Mizuno holding up a gold pen and shouting something that Shepard couldn't discerned. Moments later and Shepard was, once again, severely disappointed. She had swapped into a uniform nearly identical to Tsukino's, only thing time the gloves, boots, bow, and tiara gem were a deep blue color. He didn't even want to think about her 'stance'.

It didn't last long after that, Mizuno created a sort of fog that shrouded the entire room, and then Tsukino got free, thanks to the arrival of Chiba, who Shepard didn't pay much attention to. Shepard started packing up once Tsukino had obliterated the freakish being, as he did so he almost prayed that the last two Sailor scouts wouldn't be this ridiculous. He already knew Aino was, probably even more so given her odd taste for theatricality. He sighed as he watched the two he had rushed to assist leave the building, and couldn't help but wonder how much longer he was going to have to be here.

* * *

 **So what ya'll think? Was it good, was it bad? If you have an opinion on anything you think I should change or any grammatical errors I made, please feel free to post a review, or to PM me.**

 **Sorry if things are a little rushed and packed with little to no action, but don't worry! Shepard's grand entrance is coming soon. Also, I apologize if anyone is butt hurt about my blatant amusement concerning the Sailor Senshi's transformations. A: Don't much care, and B: I find the ways they stand at the end of their alterations to be hilariously ridiculous.**

 **Next chapter will be the recruitment of Sailor Mars and the amazing, disappearing bus.**


	4. The Shrine Maiden

**Suuuuup Yoooooo!**

 **The next chapter is finally here!**

 **Just for future reference in future chapters, I've altered the Colonist Shepard backround a bit. In the game he is around 16 when the Batarian attack takes place Mostly I'm just going to have take place when he was younger. What age I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'll let you know…maybe.**

* * *

There were no words that could accurately describe Shepard's frustration. He had spent all of last night rifling through his files and conversing with Antee'a, trying to discover any information on the creatures that had attacked Tsukino and Mizuno, on both last night and the night before, consecutively. He really should have look into it on the night of the first attack, but had dismissed it as an anomaly.

He shook his head. He must have been distracted that night. Unfortunately, even after he spent a good seven hours rooting through every data resource he knew of, he still wasn't able to turn up anything from either his own research, or his partners; which threw up red flags in his mind. Antee'a was never at a loss for information.

In spite of his currently disgruntled attitude, he still had to go to work and, although he doubted it, the school library might have some sort of information he could use. So, after a quick breakfast, he pulled out a dark red button-down shirt, a black vest and slacks, a pair of black polished combat boots, and a black tie. He also grabbed his dark grey, checkered flat-hat, as even a battle harden soldier like Shepard appreciated a small bit of flare in his uniform. He wasn't completely fashion-blind you know. As he was about to step out his door he had a though and went back to his closet, grabbing up his Carnifex and several thermal clips with a few swift movements. After stowing the compacted weapon and its ammunition safely under his vest, he proceeded out the door, feeling more relaxed than he had in months.

He used to always carry a weapon on him when he went into public; however Antee'a had talked/argued him out of it. It wasn't really that hard for her, given that he had done it for a good ten years for almost no reason. That didn't stop him from carrying a small compact combat knife in his right boot though.

Next thing he knew he was at the school, marching up the steps at 6:10, rather than his usual 6:00. Slipping through the front doors and striding down the hallways he soon arrived at his and Mr. Nagasato's shared office. As he was about to open the door he was interrupted by Ms. Sakurada, one of his fellow teachers and, in his mind, one of the most annoying people at Juuban.

"Mr. Shepard? Mr. Shepard!?" The addressed barley hid his grimace. A short while ago, Sakurada had arrived roughly an hour late and was lightly reprimanded by him. Since then she had shown up at exactly six A.M. to prepare for her day. He had, at one point congratulated her upon newfound resolve… which turned out to be a large mistake on his part. Apparently, she had been on a quest to begin a currently non-existent love life with some unfortunate male, and had set her eyes upon him for some unfathomable reason. As such every encounter with her usually entailed deflecting a never ending stream of flirtatiously under-toned comments. Therefore, Shepard had a very good reason for his unappreciative mood as he turned to address her.

"Yes, Ms. Sakurada." He said flatly

"Nagasato-sama called me a short while ago. He asked me to tell you that he will not be coming in today." She said as she came up next to him.  
The soldier internally rolled his eyes. Nagasato had been pestering Shepard about his and Sakurada's relationship ever since the ordeal had begun; the old man apparently thought that the two of them would make a, "great couple," as he had put it. Shepard did not share this opinion.

"Thank you for letting me known, if you'll excuse me." Said Shepard turning to enter Nagasato's office.

"Would you like my help with anything?" She aid stepping toward the same doorway.

In a few short movements the N7 open the door, stepped inside, and turning to face his fellow professor.

"That won't be necessary, thank you." Then the door shut; leaving Sakurada to let out a long dreamy sigh.

* * *

Inside the office Shepard took a seat behind Nagasato's desk and began rifling through the drawers. He had to give his the old Professor credit; he kept his workspace exceptionally clean making it easy for the soldier to find the class schedule. He then moved to the rather large book shelf on the other side of the room and pulled the text book from one of the middle shelves. He filtered through some of the pages taking notes as he went. Thankfully another asset to his augmentations was an extremely effective photographic memory. Stuffing the book, the schedule, his notes and a few other papers into his briefcase he then stepped to the door. After carefully checking to make sure Sakurada was no longer present he set off for his classroom, intending to get there a good while before any of his class. Setting a good example was a necessity.

* * *

This was undoubtedly the longest afternoon Shepard had had in a long while. About an hour ago at the end of the school day he had left Juuban to tail Tsukino, she of course when where she always when after school, that being her favorite arcade, and had proceeded to meet with Ami Mizuno. Shortly afterward she went inside, leaving her current partner standing on the sidewalk holding her cat. The talking one.

Shepard remained there for a good while, Mizuno eventually went inside and despite the previous night's escapade he couldn't afford to keep his focus on just these two. With that he turned and headed toward one of the quieter neighborhoods in the area. This particular neighborhood was home to a certain shrine, a shrine which housed his third reason for being alive. Rei Hino lived with her grandfather and attended a private, Roman Catholic School. Something which Shepard found rather odd, considering her role as a shrine maiden. If Shepard was honest with himself he did enjoy the calming nature of the shrine. In fact he had gone there several times and had become rather well acquainted with Hino. He appreciated Hino's reservation when it came to conversation as well, she wasn't one to nose around in others business.

Shepard had left his car at his apartment in favor of traversing the bus routes. After leaving the arcade he boarded a line bound for Sendai Hill, where he hoped the quiet environment of the Hiwaka Shrine would help him concentrate on his missions growing complications.

The sun had just begun to set as he walked through the large wooden archway. The golden sphere cast a dull reddish light over the shire grounds as it descended into the tree line. It was a peaceful as always; birds sang quietly in the trees, a pair of crows watched him as he walked along the stone walkway. Hino would not return from school for another half hour, which left Shepard with the empty tree grove. He sat on a bench, and looked around at the scene. The sunlight gleamed over the shingled roof of the shrine; weaving bleak shadows over walkways grey stone bricks. One of the crows flew off its perch on a nearby tree branch. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. There was something about this place, the almost painstaking calmness seeped through the cracks of his mind and dissolved his frustrations. However, as his worries of the present were pushed to the back of his mind, the empty space was filled with images of the past. For a moment he could picture them all inside the courtyard.

Samara was sitting at the top of the shrine buildings steps, eyes closed and a subtle smile on his lips. Thane walked among the tree's taking in everything around him. Zaeed watched the flying crow down the sights of a, quite frankly, oversized rifle. Garrus and Tali were sitting on the edge of the grove leaning up against each other and speaking of the old days. Miranda and Jack stood by the archway, biotics flaring, arguing over the minutest thing, while Jacob stood nearby trying in vain to break up the stand-off. Liara and legion stood together observing the tree's, locked in a conversation concerning the Geth culture, if you could call it that. Lastly stood Grunt, directly in the middle of the courtyard, staring directly at the sun as though its very presence was an insult to him.

As soon as the image flashed before his mind Shepard pushed it aside. He had long ago accepted the fact that everything he knew was gone; it wouldn't do him any good to bring old pictures to a modern screen. Even though he knew this however, Shepard still registered that there was something wrong. Honestly he didn't understand what the problem was, he never that close to anyone on either of the Normandy's. Sure, he knew them all inside and out, maybe even better than they knew themselves but that was just smart leadership. No, this was something else; he just couldn't place what. Maybe he was losing his edge.

He ran a hand over his face and leaned into the bench, letting the calming aura of the Hiwaka shrine envelop him once again. He stayed like that for a time before he heard the nearing sound of clipping shoes. It wasn't long before Hino turned the corner, she walk with her head held high, her long black hair trailing down to her lower back. She noticed him sitting on the bench as she entered and jumped slightly before flashing a small smile and walking towards him.

"Hello, Mr. Shepard." She said as she reached him, bowing lightly.

He stood and returned the bow while he replied, "Greetings miss Hino."

She had to tilt her head back slightly to look him in the eyes, "What brings you here on this fine evening?"

"Nothing interesting, I've had an interesting last few days and I've come to enjoy the comfortable atmosphere your shrine contains."

Hino smiled at the compliment, "Yes, well you welcome to stay as long as you wish. Excuse me; I must attend to my duties." She bowed again before walking toward the shrine building, leaving Shepard alone with his thoughts.

It was less than a minute until he heard another person rushing around the bend, going significantly faster the Hino had been. Through the arch came a head of blonde hair, long tails trailing down to her hips; Tsukino. What was she doing here? Shepard unconsciously seemed to sink further into his seat, he came here to relax and think. Not to deal with the golden haired girl's foolishness. As she moseyed into farther into the courtyard she, surprisingly didn't notice him. Shepard could make himself scarce if he wanted to, but not being seen while sitting on a bench in plain sight was stretching it even for him. He was good, but he wasn't that good. While the girl didn't notice him, her cat did and it took it upon itself to let out a startled mew. It seemed to get Tsukino's attention.

"Luna, what is I-" she never got to finishing. Out of the main buildings door blasted Hino, now dressed in her Miko garb, yelling something along the lines of, "Be gone demon!"

Before anyone could react she smashed a long slip of paper into the blondes' forehead, knocking her to the ground as she did so. It was dead silent for a good minute, both the girls staring at each other and the cat switching its gaze between to two of them. It was broken by the sound of Tsukino beginning to wail and Hino, simultaneously, starting to offer her apologies. As the two began to converse, Shepard discreetly slipped back out onto the street, he could already tell there was no point in him staying any longer. Not noticing the black cat watching him with narrowed eyes.

Shepard began walking down the sidewalk, shoving his left hand in his pocket. As he walked farther down the street he could hear a pair of women chattering anxiously as they made ready to enter the shrine that was now getting farther and farther behind him. He didn't much care about their conversation, but he did in fact turn to look at them when one of them mentioned something about a disappeared child. Given how long he had been defending humanity he couldn't help but feel some sense of concern. A sentiment he quickly extinguished. The way he saw it, he was no longer responsible for his fellow human's safety. He was no longer Commander Shepard; the man who battled a synthetic race that hadn't been encountered in centuries, fought collectors, and came face to face with a reaper. No, now he was just Shepard; the guy who couldn't seem to figure out how to stay down. He had already given up everything for humanity, now it was time for humanity to watch its own back. He was here to make sure five immature teenagers survived whatever was supposed to be headed their way, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Now, the N7 was by no means a wimp, however that didn't mean he that minded doing things the easy way every once and awhile. Therefore, he decided to save time and energy getting back to his apartment by taking another bus. So he stood next to a bench at the nearby stop, and glanced down at watch when he saw one of the objects of his transportation coming over the hill towards him.

6:00, good, he would be able to make it back in twenty minutes.

When the bus pulled up in front of him, he calmly stepped up the stairs and through the door. He nodded to the driver, who looked at him with a strange glint in his eye and an almost vicious smile, Shepard was immediately on edge. His suspicion intensified when he saw that there was in fact no one else there but him and the driver. Something didn't feel right. Shepard knew for a fact that by this time of day the buses should be loading up with people coming back from their jobs, and sports practice. In addition the air felt oddly heavy, like it was about to rain hard. Something was definitely wrong with this bus. So, after finding a seat, Shepard discreetly reached into his briefcase.

It should be noted that Shepard was an extremely efficient person, one who made a point of getting all his paperwork done at his job. And if one gets all their work done at their job, then that person really doesn't have a much of a reason to carry a briefcase around. Unless of course that person happens to be a highly trained, under cover, undead, space marine; who likes to carry a heavy duty pistol around with them on a daily basis.

Keeping his eye on the driver, he silently slide his trusty M-6 Carnifex out from its leather enclosure and slipped it into his coat, all the while letting the driver remained blissfully unaware of the unfolding situation. Shepard could have put a few into the back of his head right then and there. However, he decided that, while he might not defend humanity anymore, he had found himself in the middle of what seemed like a kidnapping scheme. And given that the person who appeared to be the culprit had gotten the brilliant idea to try to nab him. He decided he wouldn't mind waiting to see where the fellow's hideout was, and if he had accomplices. So the ex-marine sat back in his seat, closed his eyes and pretended not to be paying very close attention to everything that was going on around him.

* * *

Well, this wasn't what he was expecting.

After he had been on the bus for no more than five minutes he had felt a strange tremor run through his body. Upon opening his eyes, he found that they were no longer passing suburban houses that were basking in the setting sun's light. Now they were surrounded by darkness and instead of houses Shepard could see gray stone pillars flash by him. Only slightly alarmed, he quickly but smoothly rose from his seat, pulling the Carnifex out of his coat as he did so. Luckily, the driver didn't appear to be all that observant so he snatched up his briefcase and slowly backup towards the emergency door.

Keeping his eyes on the driver he gripped the handle with his left hand and opened the door. The bus wasn't going that fast, so it wasn't much of a challenge for the former Spectre to hop out of the back. Moving from pillar to pillar and making sure to keep the bus in sight, he surveyed his surroundings. There were in fact a vast number of pillars stretching as far as his eyes could see. As a matter of fact his vision would have reached farther if the whole place wasn't covered in a black sort of haze. In fact the only place that he could really see much of was roadway the bus seemed to be following, as it seemed to be dimly lit by an eerily pale light.

As if all of that weren't creepy enough the entire ground was marred by a strange purplish fog, Shepard could barely see his feet, let alone the floor. Like many a time before though, he steeled himself and pressed on. Moving fast, he followed the bus until it came to a sudden halt. The alliance marine pulled up and crouched next to the nearest pillar and watched the scene unfold in front of him.

* * *

Jadeite took in the empty bus, along with the astonished creature that had posed as the driver.

"I-I don't understand lord Jadeite. H-he was right there!" The beast stuttered.

The blonde haired man, needless to say, was not impressed. With a growing fire in his voice he addressed his minion. "I thought you said you were bringing someone!" He said, glaring at the nervous creature before him as it looked to the ground.

"I- I don't-"

"And what of your decreasing ability to retrieve humans? We must have more energy beast, and yet for the past two days you have failed to bring me as many as a dozen!"

The thing look into its masters burning eyes, and then back down to the ground. "Master, the word has spread of the humans disappearances. Others have become wary of-"  
"Enough!" said Jadeite raising a hand, "Tomorrow I will go myself. And should I find a deal of people approaching this contraption," he gestured to the bus, "Then you will have much more to worry about than one missing human."

* * *

Shepard looked on with narrowed eyes. The blonde who the monster called 'lord Jadeite' had just confirmed his suspicions. It was in fact some form of kidnapping plot, granted a seemingly supernatural one. He knew Jadeite looked human, but he also knew that appearances could be deceiving. After that he realized that he had no way out of the dark recess that was… wherever he was. In spite of that however, he had come about a stroke of luck. Blondie said he would be going back tomorrow to try and abduct more people. It looked like Shepard would just have to catch a ride with him, and afterwards decide what to do about the man and his sidekick.

So he sat down next to the pillar, and proceeded to play the waiting game.

* * *

Sure enough at exactly 6:00 the next day, the very same bus rolled down the hill towards the bus stop near Hino's shrine. Shepard precariously crouched behind the rearmost seat, patiently waiting for his chance to depart unnoticed. Unfortunately he wouldn't get the chance, as things were about to become complicated once again. He felt the bus come to a stop; once again acting discreetly he turned the latch on the rear door and hopped out, silently closing it behind him. He noticed they were nearby Hino's shrine and casually moved towards it. He had just made it to the sidewalk when he realized, to his utter frustration, that Hino herself had just border the bus. Growling under his breath he reached into his jacket, fully intent on blasting the tires out from under the thing, when past him charged a head of blonde hair, who promptly proceeded to start yell.

What exactly she was yelling, Shepard didn't really care. What he did care about was the fact that in an instant the golden haired person, who Shepard identified as Tsukino, had changed into a dark blue blazer and skirt and leapt onto the back of the bus. Acting on instinct he took off after the bus, well and truly pissed at the fact that now, not one, but two of the girls were in jeopardy. The Spectre pulled out his Carnifex; however, before he could get off a shot the bus disappeared into a glowing purple portal, which had appeared out of thin air.

Shepard clenched his left hand, the other grip the heavy pistol firmly. If he caught up to that Jadeite character, somebody was going to have hell to pay.

* * *

Shepard didn't stay by the portal site. He got back to his apartment and jumped into his armor, grabbing the viper on the way out. He returned to the sight about 7:30, and was surprised to realize that for once in a long while; he had no idea what to do. He didn't dwell on it two long though; he wasn't the kind of person to feel bad for himself.

He figured the only thing he could so at this point was wait for the bus to come through again. So he made his way onto a nearby roof and went prone. However, not 10 minutes later he was surprised to see a bright golden glow appear in the middle of the street, seconds later depositing Hino, Tsukino, and surprisingly, Mizuno; whom Shepard did not recall seeing enter the portal. Letting out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding, he waited until they had dispersed before leaving; jumping off the roof and landing heavily onto the concrete below. As he jogged through the back ways of Tokyo he came face to face with a grim reality. He had almost failed.

The three who had gone after the bus might have been injured, if not killed, inside what Shepard could only describe as a black hole. After this fact confronted him, he came face to face with another certainty. He was only one person, and it was getting more dangerous. There was no way he would be able to keep track of all of them. He had to come up with a solution; fast.

* * *

Usagi flopped down onto her bed; completely exhausted from the day's events. She let out a sigh as she felt herself begin to slide off to dreamland. She would have arrived there quickly had she not been interrupted by her talking black cat from the stars.

"Usagi, I need to tell you something."

"Uggggh, Luuunaa…" Moaned Usagi; not looking up from her pillow, "Couldn't it wait until morning? I'm sleepy."

"Usagi…" sighed Luna while rolling her eyes at her companion, "Earlier today… I think I saw that, "Mr. Shepard" you've told me about."

That seemed to get the girls attention, she bolted up from bed with wide eyes; her curiosity aflame. "What? When?!"

"Earlier today, when you chased after the Demon bus. I could have sworn I saw him standing in the street holding… I'm not sure, some kind of weapon."

Somehow, the blonde managed to get her eyes to widen even farther, "Really? But he's just a teacher." She folded her arms around her stomach and looked down at her bed, "I mean there have always been rumors about him, but I always figured they were just jokes."

Luna let out another sigh, "I don't know, Usagi. I could be wrong, but I think you should be a bit more careful around him from now on."

Usagi nodded and then yawn tiredly, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Luna nodded, "Alright, goodnight Usagi."

"Goodnight Luna."

* * *

Shepard stood; his arms crossed over his chest, and gazing into the endless expanse of white that spread out before him.

"Something troubles you?" asked his associate. Her normally upbeat voice carrying a seriousness that fit Shepard's mood.

"Today could have been a disaster."

"Mm…" was the only reply; not in agreement or disagreement. Antee'a could tell that it was best to let her companion think.

After a long silence the Spectre broke out of his thoughts and dropped his hands to his side. He spoke seriously, leaving no room for either jokes or questions, "There is no way I can keep track of each of Senshi if things keep going the way they are. There's too many of them to keep track of at once."

"What would you suggest?" Spoke Antee'a, sounding genuinely curious.

Shepard took a breath before speaking. Once again he contemplated the situation. "The way I see it I have two options. I reveal myself to the Senshi and hopefully strike up an alliance of sorts, which shouldn't be too hard by the way, given how naive their apparent leader is." He started pacing, fixing his eyes to the ground. "The alternative is that I try and get a hold of someone who can keep track of them when I can't."

He rubbed his eyes, "Neither of them are perfect though."

"Such as?" asked his partner.

Shepard folded his hands behind his back, "Working with the Senshi would help me keep an eye on them, however, some would say that the way I go about my job is… less than moral; which may present a problem during operations."

"On the other hand acquiring another operative would give me a wider field of focus, but in my experience the less people in the field the better." He straightened and re-crossed his arms, "Don't even get me stated on security issues."

There was another time of silence before the N7 spoke one simple word, "Thoughts?"

You could almost hear the smile in Antee'a voice, "I think that perhaps it is time the Sailor scouts met Commander Shepard."

He let out a grunt before responding, "Yeah, you might just be right."

* * *

 **Soooooo, how was it? Let me know of any questions you might have in the review section.**

 **Next chapter is Shepard's big entrance. Stay tuned.**


	5. Contact

**First off I'd just like to say thank you for all the kind reviews that have been posted. You have no idea have much it motivates me to know that people like my work.**

 **Secondly, I JUST LOVE APPLYING TO COLLAGES, DON'T YOU!? Sorry for the wait, and also sorry for any spelling and grammar errors. I was half asleep when I wrote most of this.**

 **Anyways, here's another chapter. I feel like the last few chapters have been going pretty slowly, but I _promise_ the story's going to pick up here pretty soon.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

When Shepard awoke this morning, he was hoping to have a smooth day at Juuban. As soon as he saw the front door of the building however, he remember that he had missed an entire day of school yesterday. Given this nugget of information it was no surprise that the principle called him to his office, as if he were some immature twelve year-old. The principle, whose name was Gamo Takafumi, Seemed to take great pride in his rant about how important it was to provide education to the children of Tokyo, Japan. Or at least that's what the Spectre got out it, granted he wasn't paying particular attention to what the other man was trying to tell him, other than that he was upset about the N7's absence on the previous day. Shepard could understand his point of view, as he himself wouldn't have been particularly happy if say, Joker, had decided he didn't want to fly the Normandy for a day. This didn't mean that he particularly cared about the principles argument, just that he saw where it was coming from.

"Do you understand what I'm saying Shepard-san?" he blinked as Takafumi finished his reverie, and then replied as to cover the fact that he most definitely wasn't thinking of something else a moment ago, "Of course, sir. I'll be sure to call ahead next time; it must have slipped my mind yesterday."

Takafumi shook his head, "I'm hardly surprised. You've worked here for a little over fifteen years and never once taken a vacation. Honestly, don't you have any relatives, anyone to visit?"

"No one I have a need to see." giving a bow, Shepard ended to conversation. "With respect, I have to return to my classroom."

The principle nodded, a sigh escaping his lips, "Yes, yes, of course. Just...try not to do it again."

Without waiting any longer the N7 turned on his heel and marched out of the office. He couldn't help but feel as though the way the situation was handled was slightly lackluster. He had expected to have his pay cut or something. Perhaps today wouldn't be as disappointing as the previous few.

* * *

The ex-marine sat behind the desk at the head of the class six home-room. The students were all circled into groups; happily enjoying lunch while chatting away with their friends. Every now and again Shepard would sweep his eyes over the room, just to make sure no one was doing anything stupid, and then dart them back to his paperwork. Currently he was reviewing the transfer papers for Makoto Kino, one of the Shepard's wards, who was going to be arriving at Juuban by the beginning of next week.

She was an unfortunate case; having lost both her parents in a plane crash a few years ago, she had lived mostly on her own for sometime. Shepard would have been reminded of his own parents, however he had long since buried their memorys, forgetting their names and discarding what was left of them to that place where all things that are deemed unneeded are sent. The extent of his familial recollection stopped at the knowledge that he had, at one point, been a son to parents who were killed by the cruelness of the galaxy.

He then heard a dull _snap_ and looked to his right hand to see that the pen he had just been using had been snapped clean in half; sending a stream of black ink seeping down his hand. Setting down the pen and swiping up a piece of paper towel from the roll kept under the desk, he began swabbing the thick liquid off his hand. He swept his eyes over the room once again and settled back into his chair, they were all so oblivious.

As he crossed his arms the N7 thought back to the conversation he had with Antee'a the previous night. He would need to tail Tsukino again today. He had to find a good spot to make contact. Impatiently he glared down at his watch: 12:30. He had a long way to go.

* * *

Usagi walked down the street casually. She was on her way to the arcade to meet up with Ami and Rei. Despite the events of the past week, she somehow managed to maintain her cheery persona; and as long as she was out of school she seemed never to get tired.

She continued down the street, watching as the arcade came into sight, Luna said she would meet her there, along with Rei and Ami. Slipping in through automatic doorway she walked over to her friends, wearing her usual smile.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late!"

While their conversation took flight, no one took notice of Shepard as he slipped through the doors and when about accessing one of the arcade machines, all the while paying close attention to the conversation the Senshi were having not five yards away.

The Kingdom of D? He'd have to look into the ball, as well as this "Legendary Silver Crystal."

* * *

The night of the ball came sooner than Shepard would have liked. He had inquired of his contact and discovered that the treasure the Senshi were suspicious of, was nothing more than a miniature statue of the nations princess. The Crystal they were after was, however, a much more interesting piece of information.

Shepard had been briefed on the moon kingdom and its destruction at the start of his mission. Apparently, the Legendary Silver Crystal was the source of power for the royal family, and something that Antee'a had seen fit to leave out of her briefings. It wasn't until the N7 had specifically asked about it that his compatriot had become forthcoming with the information. Suspicious though her behavior was, it was something that could wait to be considered. Filing the data away for future processing, Shepard looked from his rooftop perch to the rather large, and gaudy if you asked him, embassy that stood across from his position. The Senshi had snuck inside just moments before, and the Spectre decided it was time to follow.

After using the scope of his Viper rifle, he dropped from the low rooftop. He landed into a roll and stuck to the shadows as he moved across the street. As soon as he hit the stone wall he again checked for observers, he had picked the wall to the right of the one the contained the entrance for his….well entrance. He had timed his approach so as to avoid the outside patrols, and he had estimated the guard rotation times on the inside gardens as well. Using a small grappling hook, Shepard rapidly scaled the wall, coming to rest atop of it and press himself to the top to avoid detection.

As luck would have it, his estimations proved correct. The only visible guard was just beginning to exit the garden on this side of the embassy. Hearing the soft music playing inside, he darted across the ground; grabbing the Carnifex hand cannon of his hip as he did so. Every so often he would take cover behind a nearby bush or shrub and check for hostiles. His strategy proved to be effective, as the next patrol walked around the corner just as Shepard reached the building. He crouched low and waited for the two patrolmen pass, once they were out of sight he began to find his way in.

Thanks to his partner he had accessed a basic schematic of the buildings structure. The schematic had made him aware of a small waiters entrance on the side of the building, an entrance which the Spectre was currently making his way too. Sticking close to the wall, Shepard glided across the ground until he reached a thick wooden door. A door which promptly swung open, causing the ex-marine to drop to a knee and crouch to the ground. A waiter, dressed in a white shirt, black slacks and a vest, stepped outside and closed the door behind him. He wasn't paying particular attention to his surroundings as he pulled a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket. If he had been paying attention, he might have noticed a black armored figure who, now faced with an obstruction, snapped an arm around his neck. In one fluid movement, Shepard dragged his victim down to the ground, and waited for him to stop wriggling. Without taking the time to make sure he was still breathing, Shepard carefully opened the door to make sure the coast was clear.

It wasn't.

Two more waiters stood in the halway just a few feet away. One of their backs was turned to him, and the other leaned casually against the wall as they calmly chatted about something which their observer didn't care to take note of (and the author was too lazy to write). Knowing the next set of guards would be arriving soon, Shepard dragged the first waiter too one of the large bushes that stood next to the embassy. He rolled the unconscious man underneath them, and then rushed to the door before the next patrol. He knew that if he waited for them to pass then the other two waiters, assumedly the first's friends would worry about his whereabouts. Waiting a moment before the door, he yanked it open and leaped inside.

The first man didn't even know what hit him. Shepard landed light on his toes before spinning into a roundhouse kick; the toe of his boot connected with the side of the first ones head and sent him thudding into the wall. Quick as a snake, and before the second man could utter a sound, the Spectre charged forward and clasped a hand around his jaw; covering his mouth and slamming his head into the brick wall he was previously leaning on. Dazed, the man barely reacted when a powerful, armored elbow was sent crashing into the side of his skull and he dropped to the ground. Unconscious.

The N7 quickly checked the other man, it seemed to kick as well and ramming into the wall had put him out of commission as well. He quickly lumped them both into the corner by the door and went off down the hallway. The carnifex still clutched in his hand.

* * *

In the future, the three sailor scouts who attended the ball would agree that the plan had broken down. After the princess's possession, she had flooded the room with a strange form of magic, sending everyone in the ballroom into unconsciousness. Usagi had not hesitated to chase after her, and had caught up to the young noble as she attempted to escape over the embassy rail. When the princess had run from the ballroom, Usagi had naturally chased after her. She had grabbed her around the shoulders just as the younger girl had been prepared to leap from the edge.

"Princess D, Stop! You should get away from there!" exclaimed Usagi, hoping to turn the princess away from her course of action.

She went unheeded however, as the other girl, still clutching a wooden box to her chest, threw the blonde hair girl over her shoulder and straight off the marble railing. The young blonde felt herself begin to fall, before she was caught abruptly by the wrist. Looking up, she looked upon her savior, Tuxedo Mask. She instantly felt her cheeks heat up as she gazed into his deep blue eyes.

They both hung there, and as Tuxedo Masks grip on the ledge started to slip, Usagi barley registered two loud _**BANG**_ **'** s as she gazed up at her savior.

" _Those eyes,"_ Were the last thing she thought before they both started to fall. But they didn't fall, once again she felt herself jerk in the air, and when Usagi's eyes looked up past Tuxedo Mask, they found another hand gripping him by the forearm. It was covered in a black, hard looking material. And as she looked further up she found the entire arm and body to be of the same metallic substance. The arm that was keeping them up sported a thick red line, which ran the length of the appendage before stopping at the shoulder.

Once Usagi's eyes made it to the head, she shivered. A thin, black tinted visor gazed back at her. The face of the helmet somehow looked mad. Mad at her, mad at everything. She almost yelped from just the looking at it, however, the person helped her vocal cords on their way to sound by seizing Tuxedo Masks collar and with a great heave yanked them both up over the railing and tossed them into a heap on the ground.

Just then, looking up, Usagi got a real good look at the thing; standing mightily erect, staring back at her; the pale moonlight gleaming off of its polished metal body. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it had taken off along the walkway, moving faster than she ever could. Her curiosity quickly overwhelming her fear, she would have gone after it, had not Tuxedo Mask grabbed her arm; causing her to send a quick look over to him. When she looked back, the thing was gone.

* * *

Shepard had been tailing Tsukino since the ball first went to hell. When she, followed by Chiba, had gone off the edge; Shepard acted on instinct. Firing off two warning shots from the Carnifex, which cause the princess to jump away from them, he charged over to the rail from which the two had fallen. There really wasn't much in the way of thought until he saw Tsukino staring up at him, fear plain in her eyes. It had snapped him out of whatever sort of haze he was in, and he realized he was gripping Chiba's arm. Without any great gentleness he latched onto the others collar and with a barley constrained grunt of exertion, and pulled the two off the ledge. Luckily, Chiba's tall yet lanky frame made his weight more manageable, and Tsukino's short stature made hers much more manageable. Despite this, he knew he should not have been able to haul them both up as easily as he did. Yet another thing he would have to ask Antee'a about.

He had not originally intended to chase after the princess. However, given that he had been forced to reveal himself to Tsukino, his timetable for making contact had been moved up considerably. Deciding quickly that helping capture the child monarch would possibly improve his stand with the Three currently active Senshi, he dashed off after the, he could only assume, rogue female. Shortly thereafter he came upon a favorable scene. Hino and Mizuno had effectively cut off his targets escape, all that was left was apprehension.

Unfortunately, the two Sailor Guardians before him insisted on making an oversized deal about his appearance.

Hino spoke first, "And who are you?! Another creature coming to steal the crystal?!" She nearly snarled, gazing at him over the princess's shoulder.

"Negative. An ally." Calmly spoke Shepard, once again directing the barrel of the Carnifex toward his quarry, who was currently gritting her teeth; a dark green aura slowly enveloping her. The standoff would have continued if, taking advantage of the seemingly distracted scouts, the princess hadn't thrown her head in the air. From her body, the green aura sprouted into the air, forming a large green face.

"You're too late! The secret treasure is mine!" bellowed the face. Hino and Mizuno stood in stunned silence. Unlike the Senshi however, Shepard was not so easily distracted. He would have preferred not to start a diplomatic incident, but solutions were solutions. The carnifex was aimed, and he began to squeeze the trigger when-

"Stop right there!"

Behind him stop Tsukino, now changed into her sailor suit. She looked ready to fight, the N7 could give her that, but her little speech didn't help his opinion.

"I am the pretty guardian, who fights for love and justice! I am sailor moon!"

Dear lord above. Was she going to say that every time she fought someone? At least it snapped the other two out of their stupor. With a flash of rage Hino threw her hand forward; expelling a torrent of flame whilst saying, "Evil spirit be gone!" Not that it helped. The fire just passed right threw the thing. Shepard thanked the green face for one thing; it took the attention of him. And as much as the Spectre wanted to stay in this lovely situation, he thought it might be best to get to cover while he could.

Moving fast, he ducked over into the shadows by the wall, creeping along it silently. Amazingly, Mizuno and Hino didn't notice him as he went by. They would need a **lot** of training that was for sure.

Suddenly he heard Tsukino yell, "Moon Twilight, **Flash**!"

Looking back, he saw a beam of silver light blast into the great face. It screamed in pain before dispersing entirely. When it left, the green aura surrounding the princess disappeared too, leaving her to drop to her knees.

The night wasn't over though; the green aura had jumped from the monarch and across the garden to the roof a building which stood across the way from the embassy. There it took the shape of a tall, red hair man. He could hear him talking and, for the distance, could do it very clearly.

"The only thing you hurt was my shadow." said the red hair man.

"They still got the better of you Nephrite." Spoke a deeper voice. And right beside the Red hair man materialized three more characters. Shepard glanced over the four of them, standing in a line. As he reached the fourth he barely registered two things. One, they were still talking; and two; they all needed haircuts… badly. The most forward thing in his mind, however, was the fact that the fourth man, who had shorter hair than the rest, was the same who had kidnapped Hino not a few days before.

Shepard had paused his retreat near a stone pillar; his gaze heavily onto his new target. Normally he wasn't one for revenge, personally he found the practice to be petty, it not a bit immature. However, Jadeite, as the N7 remembered him being called, had made his day slightly miserable. Where was the wrong in paying him back?

At this time, it is important for the reader to note that Shepard always carried two weapons with him when he went on his patrols. Most often those two were the carnifex and the viper, and sometimes he would swap the viper for the avenger battle rifle. Luckily for him, he had decided to carry the viper on his back when he went out this evening. Pulling it from its resting place, and letting the Senshi continue distracting the four Hippies', he lined up the sights with Jadeites head. Taking a breath to steady him aim, he fired.

The mass effect round flew straight and true. It smashed itself, full force, into the blonde's skull. Or at least would have, if he wasn't protected by some kind of invisible barrier which somehow kept him alive. The force of the shot was, however, quite enough to knock Jadeite right off the improvised podium, and let him land, dazed, on the roof behind him.

Sputtering indignantly, the one with white hair, whose name Shepard didn't quite care to know, Yelled something about meeting again at the Senshi and, after grabbing his fallen compatriot, all four of them disappeared without a trace.

And by the time the Scouts had recovered their wits, which as only a few moments, Shepard was far beyond catching.

* * *

"I'm not sure you understand the point of this class Ms. Risako."

Shepard gazed out the one of the classrooms many windows at the slowly retreating sun. It was the day after the escapade at the embassy, and a certain brown haired blue eyed trouble maker, Abby Risako, had finally gotten on Shepard's last nerve. She had never neglected her work, but the problem was her attitude. She was arrogant, snobby, and was extremely disrespectful. Her name, and distinctly western countenance, was the result of a marriage between a wealthy Japanese businessman, and a financially well off English woman. She knew the class topic backwards and forwards, her quiz grades demonstrated that perfectly, however in the Spectre's mind; her disrespect towards almost everything outside her family, as well as the fact that she rarely paid attention in class, was as good as failing it. In spite of her actions, Isoroki had… neglected to take any action on the matter. If Shepard had his way, he would have failed her on every assignment she was given until she started begin a bit more attentive, or at least learn a little humility. His superior, however, had insisted that she be graded fairly on everything she did. The result was near perfect, but the dislike of almost everyone in the school. Shepard, however, was above such pettiness. His only motive was to make his life, as well as everyone else's in the school, easier.

"I'm not sure what the big deal is. I mean, I already know all the material, unlike all the other morons you like to teach." She huffed, crossing her arms.

With every word she spoke, the ex-marines mood degraded a bit more. There were three things about her that really ruined Shepard mood. One, she was the daughter of a particularly wealthy businessman. Two: said business man was rumored to have some connections within the school board. Three: Twice previously mentioned business man had taken it upon himself to spoil the girl beyond all practical belief. Oh, and she was also one of the few in the school who didn't openly tremble before the N7. She either hid it well, or she was so confident in her family's place in society that felt untouchable. In all honesty Shepard felt some slight appreciation that there was someone in the school who wasn't terrified of him. Other than Ms. Sakurada of course, but he didn't feel like she counted. In spite of this however, fear got the job done, and it was time to wreck her feeling of security.

"The point of school isn't just to learn the topic, it's to learn how listen to your superiors." He said. It seemed ruin her mood which, unbeknownst to her, was exactly what the soldier wanted. Not for any tactical reasons, simply for the sake of amusement.

"Are you implying that you're better than me?" she said sardonically. She crossed her arms as she did this, and glared at the teacher furiously. He did not feel in the least intimidating however. Dealing with creatures like the Krogan could do that to you.

That said, Shepard felt no real need to acknowledge her statement and continued with his point, his ire rising with every word. "However, I feel as though your problem is not that you don't want to learn, it's that you don't have respect for the topic or the people teaching it."

He took a moment to enjoy the quiet classroom, as well as survey the young girl's pouty mood, before speaking again.

"Therefore," he began. Her eyes, which had swapped to boring holes in the floor, darted over to him, "You will spend every day for the next consecutive month meeting me in my office at exactly six-fifty sharp."

"Doing what?" growled the girl. If it were possible for her eyes to narrow further they did. Not that Shepard took any notice, as he had returned to gazing out the window; watching a few students as they walked down the street.

"For exactly one hour per-morning, I will assist you in reviewing the careers of every employee at this school." Spoke the N7 with an especially vicious deadpan, "After we are finished we will being researching the history of the English language."

Risako's jaw was hanging wide open, but unfortunately Shepard wasn't done. "By the end of the month, using the notes you will have taken concerning the aforementioned topics, you will write me a fifteen page essay concerning the uses and benefits of learning different languages, a week after which you will write me another ten page essay on why the teachers in this school are qualified to teach the topics they do."

The girl's mouth opened and closed several times, unable to emit any noise. After a few moments however, she practically disbelievingly cried, "Y-you can't **do** that!"

Shepard, completely unfazed by her anger, casually turned from the window. His eyes burning directly into the girls own. It wouldn't scare her, but it would put her on her toes, and Shepard new that was all he needed.

"Watch me."

Each of his words was articulated with a certain power that let whoever was on the receiving end, in this case Risako, know just who was in charge. Unsurprisingly, it worked just as the Spectre had planned. The girls darted back down to the floor, her eyes showing that while she was not admitting defeat, she could tell that she lost the argument. The N7 moved across the floor in smooth, impossibly quiet steps; shortly reaching his desk and picking up his coat and briefcase.

As he was about to exit the door he turned back to throw one more log on the fire. "In addition, each paper will be worth two test grades. However, with your intelligence I'm sure you won't have a problem." He flipped on his cap and reached for the door handle, "If I were you, I'd try to pay attention as much as possible." With that, he was out the door. Leaving Risako to sink in her seat and let a frustrated sigh.

* * *

Time flew by after that. Immediately following last night's fiasco, Shepard had made a decision. He had briefly discussed it with Antee'a when he had returned to his apartment.

 **(Flashback)**

" _You're sure about this?" said the feminine voice._

" _We're out of time." was the reply. Taking the following silence as a queue to explain, Shepard spoke again._

" _The mission is becoming more complicated. If I'm going to work efficiently this has to happen, and soon."_

 _If he could put a face with her voice he could have imagined her nodding._

" _Very well, do as you will, Commander."_

 **(End Flashback)**

In all honesty, Shepard didn't know if his next action would benefit the mission or hinder it, but after last night, it was either going to happen on hostile terms, or friendly ones. And as much as Shepard enjoyed a fight; he would prefer friendly.

He had arrived early this morning and hid his armor in a concealed location. After retrieving and donning it, he slipped out into the city. It was harder to sneak about in the darkening sky, but not impossible. Therefore, after a quite honestly frustrating half-hour, he arrived at the Hiwaka shrine, one of the more favorite new haunts of the Sailor scouts. He had taken care to arrive well before they did, and without any great hurry, he laid prone just behind the arch in the roof and waited for them. It was no more than ten minutes before he heard voices walking up the sidewalk.

* * *

"I just don't understand." pondered Ami Mizuno. Usagi, Rei and herself were all walking down the sidewalk to Rei's shrine, and were making conversation about the black armored being they had seen the night before. "What made him run away?" Given the bodily shape of the thing, they had naturally assumed its gender to be male.

"Obviously after his master was defeated he had no reason to remain." Calmly, however slightly bitterly, spoke Rei. She was not exactly a fan of the new player, and had been steadfast in her determination that he was evil since they had begun speaking about it.

Ami herself, while not exactly wanting to believe he was on their side, was not willing to immediately dismiss the idea.

"He said he was an ally."

"And what makes you think we should believe him?"

"He shot Jadeite."

"We think. And also, how is that a good thing?"

Ami had to admit, she couldn't find an answer to either of Rei retorts. He had not attacked them, but that was hardly reliable evidence. Nephrite could easily have commanded him to hold back.

With no retort, Ami simply narrowed her eyes and tried to think of something, anything else they could use to try to determine the things allegiance. They were about to round the corner into the shrine when Usagi; in a rare, somber tone said.

"I don't think he's with them."

She had been walking behind them, lost in thought as she stared at the ground. At her statement, both Rei and Ami stopped and looked back at her. Since last night, she had been acting strange whenever the topic of the armored thing came into conversation. Her bubbly personality would dispersed and give way to the trouble visage she currently held. When they had asked her what was wrong, she had dismissed their concerns with obviously fake smiles; which easily translated into, "I don't really want to talk about It." and her two friends had kindly left her alone until she was ready to discuss it with them. It seemed she finally was.

It was only a moment before they started walking again. As they crossed through the archway into the shrine, Rei let out a sigh; closing her eyes before she spoke, "In any case, I do not believe we are likely to see him anytime soon. The chances of us running into him again are slim." Her eyes bolted open again when she was addressed by a cold, calm voice.

"Very slim actually."

All three of them looked up to the rooftop with wide eyes and shocked expressions. There, upon the dark wood roof, stood the very topic of their concern. Its black armor holding steadfast against the waves of oncoming red light. A dark silhouette against the setting sun.

"W-who are you?" Whispered Mizuno, or at least thought she whispered. The things head switched its gaze to her.

"I told you, an ally."

Needless to say, Rei was not exactly satisfied with that response, "And what more than that?!" She spoke indignantly.

This time, it didn't turn to look at the speaker. Instead it switched his gaze to Usagi who, under the things blink less gaze, pulled her briefcase to her. Oh, how she wished Luna was here!

* * *

For a few moments Shepard let quiet rain. He couldn't tell them his name; it would give away everything. "Commander" sounded good, but, being paranoid, he didn't want them to start believing he had a military background and asking questions about thing he would rather leave in the past. So he came up with something better.

"My name is Spectre. And my job is to keep you alive."

If, in some strange was, there can be a time when a moment of silence can be more silent that a previously occurring moment of silence, than this was that time.

* * *

 **Welp, Shepard has finally made contact. Tune in next time to see the fallout.**

 **Also, the next chapter will be the first time Makoto and Shepard meet face to face. Can't say how long it will be until it's out, probably like a year. That was sarcasm by the way.**

 **If there's anything you think should be changed, PM or leave a review. Until next time!**

 **JMB401**


	6. Discovery

**HEYO! I'm back…Very late. Later than you thought but sooner than you'd hoped!**

 **Anyway, lets jump right into it!**

 **Actually, Before I start, I've found a little discrepancy in my writing. In the first couple chapters I was referring to Shepard boss (The elderly teacher he shares an office with) as Mr. Isoruko, his full name being Nakasato Isoruko. After that I started referring to him as Mr. Nakasato.**

 **Well that's stretching it. I've gotten his name wrong many times actually. I've called him Isoruki, and Nagasato. Which are both wrong going off his originally name so…..my bad I guess.**

 **Now through a little googling, I found out that the Japanese, like many Asian cultures, put the surname before the personal name. So, his last name is really Nakasato, and his first name is Isoruko.**

 **That is why from here on out. He will be referred to as Mr. Nakasato, or just Nakasato.**

 **So just to recap, his name is Nakasato and if I screw it up again please let me know!**

* * *

The sun had barley crested the tall city horizon when Shepard's door opened. It would be a short while until students would begin arriving, but he was glad he could get newest one acclimated to the building as soon as possible. Luckily, Nakasato had return to work today, so he wouldn't have to worry about attending to the class. It was a strange time of year for a transfer student to start at Juuban, but she had insisted, and Shepard wasn't about to complain about having an easier job.

Her reddish-brown hair, held up in a high ponytail, still managed to tumble down past her shoulder blades, and large emerald eyes looked at him curiously. He stood from his chair as she entered. Standing at 5'6" she was significantly taller than Tsukino, and only just above Mizuno, and Hino.

"Miss Kino, good to see here early. I hope your satisfied with your living conditions?"

Makoto Kino bowed politely; something which Shepard returned as she replied, "Very, Shepard-san. I really can't thank you enough for helping me settle in."

This was true. The Commander had made sure to make the change in environment as free of confusion and incident as possible. Included in his efforts was assisting in setting Kino up with an apartment and helping her move in. Shepard didn't like to have favorites, but out of all his 'wards' Kino was his most preferred. She was most often quiet and reserved, strong and a hard worker, however he found that she often fell prey to bouts of childishness; an unfortunate side effect of her young age. This sort of behavior was demonstrated by all the scouts except of course for Mizuno, however, she didn't exactly seem like much of a fighter. This weighed on the N7 mind more than he would like to admit. Hino was a competent fighter, at least enough to defend herself; but one out of four wasn't great odds, and he doubted her ability to work within a team; especially one she had only just joined.

He knew, of course, that he wasn't counting Minako Aino, the fifth member of the growing group, but ever since she had discovered her own powers some time ago, it had proven extremely difficult to keep tabs on both her while watching the other four. He was forced to leave most of that departments work in the hands of Antee'a, who would update him on her whereabouts and progress at the end of each day. So far there were no causes for alarm, and Shepard was able to divert his attention to making sure the others survived their first few rounds of combat as Sailor Scouts.

They filled out a last bit of paperwork, and Shepard gave her a tour of the school. This lasted just about an hour, and the first classes of the day were just starting as Shepard proceeded to escort her to her to the home room of class six.

"Mr. Shepard… if you don't mind me asking… what exactly is your job here?"

While it came out of nowhere, the Spectre had been expecting this question for some time; he was, in fact, aware of how out of sorts he seemed compared to other educators.

"I'm an assistant to Pr. Nakasato Isoruko. Occasionally, he has some trouble making his classes and getting some paper work done. I help where I can."

Kino looked to the ground; looking flustered. "Oh. You don't look quite like other teachers I've met, so I assumed you must be here for…...other reasons.

Shepard repressed a snort of amusement. "I'm not security guard, if that was it."

Kino's face was turning red, but the corners of her lips turned up in a small smile. "Yeah, something like that."

The N7 let out a sigh through his nose and turned to face her as he stopped, "Miss Kino, after your first few days here you're probably going to start becoming pretty acquainted with some rumors about me."

She met his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not going to tell you what they are," he resumed walking again, "but I am going to lend you some advice, don't listen to them." Then they were in front of the classroom.

"Understood?" said Shepard, not unkindly.

She smiled her shy smile again and nodded, "Got it."

He nodded back, "Good."

He swung the door open, letting out the sound of the many students who were all participating in their usual pre-class tom-foolery.

"Welcome to class six."

* * *

Kino's induction into class six did not go quite as smoothly as he had hoped. There seemed to have been some kind of stigma passed around that she was too intimidating to hold any decent conversation with. Not surprising, considering she virtually towered over everyone else in the classroom. It remined him of his short few years back in the alliance orphanages after Mindoir got hit.

The difference was that he had used the intimidation he held over others as an advantage. Shepard always was a quick learner, and the few days he spent dodging the alien raiders before being rescued taught him to take every advantage he got. That, at least, had stuck with him all the years of his life.

Unfortunately, he could tell that Kino was just too unexplainably nice to do something with of it. It was just his luck really, that he wound up taking care of a bunch of pacifists. That was probably stretching it, but he felt he could take that luxury.

That wasn't the only thing that wasn't going well though. His first real conversation with the three other girls a few nights ago might as well have gone to shambles. Not that he expected anything less really. It was too soon, and he had known it.

 ** _*Start Flashback*_**

" _For the last time, I'm not the enemy here."_

 _The dry remark was one of the very many that Shepard had proposed in an attempt to calm the three spooked girls the squared off below him. Well, only two were actually squared off; Tsukino had been shoved protectively behind Hino and Mizuno, both prepared to attack if needs be. The black haired one had already tried just a few minutes ago as a matter of fact, launching a ball of fire toward the portion of the roof where Shepard stood. The projectile might have hit him, if only he were an amateur. Decades of muscle memory kicked in and in an instant ball of flame missed him by a mile. It had taken some effort not to return fire._

 _The resulting exchange was a long five minutes of the N7 attempting to assure the Senshi that he was not a new assailant. Unfortunately, given that intimidation and violence wouldn't get him quite the results he desired, he was forced to fall back onto more peaceful ways of negotiation, which were apparently just as unconvincing as they were back during his command of the Normandy.  
_

" _I don't trust you strange one, and nothing you can say will change that!"_

 _Despite Hino's continuous aggression, Shepard noticed that his 'diplomacy' seemed to be whittling down Mizuno and Tsukino's resolve, as they were both sharing the odd concerned glance and had dropped their defensive poses._

 _He turned his gaze back to the snarling Hino. If he could get the other two on his side then he'd be in the clear._

" _Look kid, I know you've have no reason to trust me. But the fact of the matter is that while the two of you," he said gesturing to Hino and Mizuno, "were skipping around the embassy, I was busy saving your blonde hair friend here from a broken neck."_

 _Two pairs of eyes turned to Tsukino who was repeatedly pressing the ends of her pointer fingers together, looking at the ground._

" _Is he telling the truth?" Asked Mizuno softly._

" _W-well, it's possible that I may have pushed over the railing."_

 _Mizuno guessed the rest from her companion's expression. "Why didn't you tell us?" She asked again, she obviously wasn't mad, just curious._

 _Tsukino shrugged, "I didn't want you to worry." Everyone could tell that was a half truth. Shepard guessed that she didn't want to appear weak to her teammates, but it wasn't exactly his business and Hino still looked like she had no intention of backing down; although she was visibly grinding her teeth._

 _The blonde-haired girl looked up from the ground to her black hair acquaintance, "C'mon Rei. Let's at least hear him out."_

 _The girl in question released one final growl, but dropped her arms to her sides, "Fine." She ground out, submitting to the other girls' request, through her eyes never let Shepard who, for his part, felt quite pleased. It was nice to have someone in his corner for once._

 _He lowered his hands and walked toward the edge of the low hanging roof, were he dropped down to the dirt ground and crossed his arms. A few minutes passed before anything was said._

" _You mind giving me some names?" Shepard spoke first, making sure to keep up appearances._

 _Mizuno took up for her two companions, one too skittish and the other fuming too heavily to talk._

" _I'm Sailor Mercury. These are Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars." She said, gesturing to the two in turn. "Who might you be?"_

 _The N7 had prepared for this inevitability. He knew that if he gave his real name his cover would be blown, so he went with another alias that Antee'a had suggested. One that was already so familiar to him._

" _Specter." He said with a nod._

 _Another silence. He hated this diplomatic bargaining. It was for slimy politicians who slunk around in the shadows making bad deals while everyone cheered for them. He had been forced to play the game back in his own world, now it looked like he'd have to do it again._

" _Look, here's the bottom line. I want the same thing as you do."_

" _Which is?" Growled Hino._

" _That boy band who were across the courtyard from you in the garden. They've been causing me some problems. I'd like to have them out of the picture."_

" _We're not going to help you kill them if that's what you're asking. That was a one-night occurrence, what makes you think we know or care who they were?!" This, again, came from Hino._

" _You probably don't know who they are, but I'm willing to bet that they've been running some kind of interference on you."_

 _The black-haired girl scowled deeper._

" _I'm also willing to bet that they're running that interference because of some conflict of interest." He knew, of course, exactly why they were after them. Antee'a was quite the wealth of information after all. "Look, all I want is them out of the picture."_

 _He took a step forward, causing the three girls to take a step back._

" _I help you get rid of new age Beatles, none of us our every bothered again, and we can go our separate ways."_

 _Hino scathing reply started to cut through the cold air like butter, "We will not collude with-"_

" _We'll take you up on your offer." cut in Mizuno; once again the voice of reason, and the new object of Hino's glare._

" _Good." said, the N7. He then brushed past them without a second glance and made his way toward the archway leading back to the street. "I'll be in touch."_

 _Then he was gone._

 ** _*End Flashback*_**

They didn't trust him, even Mizuno. He didn't have to do any digging to know that. But she was smart enough to know that they would need help, if not now than in the future. Besides, he didn't need their trust. He sure as hell wasn't going to trust them, until this was all well and over, they were all liabilities. All he needed was their cooperation.

He withdrew into his shared office until lunchtime, which rolled around sooner than he would have liked. He was drawn out of his work when the door opened, revealing his boss, Mr. Nakasato.

"Ah, there you are Shepard! I've been looking for you. Come down to lunch with me! You'll be missed!"

The aged man had a habit of going down to eat lunch with some of the other teachers and faculty. Something that Shepard made a habit of trying to avoid doing. However, somehow his boss was often able to find some way to get the N7 to accompany him on his ventures.

"Sir, I am very busy. And I'm positive no one is going to feel sorry that I'm not there."

"Ohh, come now! I'll be sorry; isn't that enough?" the old man said in his almost overly happy tone. Shepard, for his part, fixed him with his most withering glare.

Which was promptly ignored.

"Come on and leave the paperwork, it can be done another time! Besides-" He waggled his eyebrows, "Ms. Sakurada will be there."

Shepard's eyes narrowed, "That doesn't help your case."

Without missing a beat Nakasato changed tactics. "Tell you what, you come with me to the lunches, and I'll stop bothering you about her."

Then commenced the staring contest. It was almost a daily thing now. It was the calm moment in all their disagreements, just before one of them caved. It always tended to look the same too, Shepard glowering with frustration, and Nakasato grinning like a boy who just open a Christmas present.

Quickly, Shepard weighed his options. He could stay in the office, surrounded by peace by quiet and have the older man continue to bother him about his female stalker, or he could relent and not have his superior remind him of the matter every two seconds that they were in each other's presence. It was peace for now, or peace later.

"Fine."

A little over a half-hour later and Shepard was, with relief, slipping back into his chair. Given that his eccentric superior had declined to specify just how long he was meant to remain in the lunchroom, Shepard had waited until the older man was absorbed into conversation with his peers and then quietly slipped out unnoticed. Well, except for Sakurada who had been making him extremely uncomfortable with the looks she kept throwing at him. She must have been too polite to leave in the middle of a conversation, so had been forced to stay with the other teachers while Shepard departed. Something which pleased the N7 immensely.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident. And the next morning before the rest of the staff arrived, Shepard sat at his desk as his shared office door opened.

"Ms. Risako. Right on time."

The brown hair girl stiffly sat in the chair across from him. "Yeah, well I still think this is a waste of time. But if I'm going to have to sit here every morning then I figured I might as well get something done." She said, crossing her legs and sticking her nose in the air.

"Good, then we're on the same page."

The next hour went surprisingly smooth, in Shepard's opinion at least. The snobby girl was, while not exactly easy to work with, much less frustrating than the N7 had expected. Maybe things today wouldn't be so bad.

Twilight was just starting to flow over the tree's as the three Senshi stood together at the Hino shrine, listening to a woman be consoled by her friend.

"Please give him back to me!" She wept, all but oblivious to her friends attempts at comfort.

"Don't worry, the ghost bride is just a rumor." Another woman whispered softly, wrapping her arms around the other.

Luna, perched on Rei's shoulder narrowed her eyes, "We should defiantly look into this."

Rei nodded, "Agreed, but first." She turned to her fellows, "We need to talk about what happened after we stopped the attack at the embassy."

Her eyes hardened, and she stared hard at Ami, "What were you thinking? We shouldn't have agreed to work with that, thing!" She demanded.

The blue-haired girl shrunk under the gaze of the taller girl. "W-w-well, I just thought."

Usagi, quick to jump to the aid of her shy friend, cut in, "I'm sure she was just trying to help!"

The shrine maiden pinched her nose and let out a breath. "I know, I know. I'm sorry Ami, I let my emotions get the better of me. But I don't like it."

Ami nodded, "I understand." She folded her arms over her stomach and looked around at her companions, "But if he wanted to attack us, he could have done it when our backs were turned. Or when we were distracted at the embassy."

She let out a sigh, "I feel like we're getting into something that's way over our heads here. If anything ever were to happen I don't think it would hurt to have allies."

Usagi tilled her head and looked at her friend questioningly, "What do mean, 'if something were to happen' we've done alright so far."

"That doesn't mean something won't." Cut in Rei, "I suppose, that Ami Is correct. It wouldn't hurt to have someone on our side if a situation ever went bad."

She crossed her arms and looked between the three of them, "All I ask is that what ever dealings we have with, 'Specter,' we handle carefully."

He two friends nodded seriously, but it was of course broken when Usagi raised a hand in the air and chirped, "Now let's go find a ghost!"

* * *

Well, his hopes of a good day had just been thrown to the sidewalk. As a matter of fact, they had been thrown to the side walk, kicked in the stomach, curb stomped and then thrown into the lake of death. He was so close too. Not three hours to go and Shepard would have been able to have had one day pass without incident. He briefly wondered if there would ever be a day that his chronically bad luck would decide to take a vacation and allow him just a little time of things going his way.

He swore under his breath as he rushed up the fire escape to the top of some department store. There was a confrontation going down in the alley adjacent to the one he was currently climbing in, and when last he saw it was going badly.

Hino had been grabbed in a sleeper hold by some freak-show mannequin, which had blasted some dark green ray of energy over the other three Senshi, rendering them immobile.

Shepard's reinforced boots met the hard rooftop as he leapt over the concrete guard rail. From there he hurried to the edge of the building and looked onto the scene below.

Tsukino, Kino and Mizuno were all laid out on the ground gritting their teeth, and Hino had tears in her eyes as she looked at her newly made friends, unable to do anything while in the demon's powerful grasp.

The spectre shook his head. Useless, utterly useless.

Farther back in the alley, he recognized one of the men from the embassy. The red head. He let out another obscenity as he realized he had forgone his Viper for the Avenger battle rifle, which would significantly lower his chances for a one shot kill. And even someone of his skill couldn't make that deadly of a shot at this distance with the carnifex. He would have to go for the next best thing.

Unhooking the heavy pistol from his thigh he took aim.

When suddenly his instincts kicked in and he dodged to the left, narrowly missing a punch from the dressed-up goofball he had encountered the first night Tsukino had used her powers; Mamoru Chiba, if he remembered correctly. He absolutely refused to even think of calling him, 'Tuxedo Mask'.

Shepard spoke through his helmet quietly, his voice still coming through its built-in speakers in a distorted growl, "Look nimrod, I've got no time to deal with you."

The top hat wearing high schooler glared at Shepard through his mask, "I'll admit, you caught me off guard a while ago. But this time you'll find that I'm ready for you. You're not harming those gir-"

Shepard cut him off, "I get that your trying to be intimidating bud, but if you didn't notice they're not in the best shape as it is. Besides, don't you have some old ladies to help across the street or something." He knew he had to end this fast. This stupid confrontation was costing him precious time.

With a grunt Chiba leapt toward the N7. The following fight was short, and Shepard had to admit, the kid had some promise, but the ex-marine had him out gunned in training and equipment, and had the experience to back it all up.

After a few missed strikes from Chiba, Shepard expertly ducked under a hook and plowed a devastating upper cut to the kids' stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before the suited vigilante could even comprehend what was happening, the spectre spun on his toe and delivered a crushed hook to the side of his opponent's head. Knocking him to the ground and rendering him out for the count with a concussion he would feel for days.

Again, Shepard drew the Carnifex and stepping up to the edge of the rooftop took stock of the scene below. Not much had changed, if he ever had one thing going for him it was that his enemies were always long winded.

Holding the heavy pistol in both hands he sighted in on his target, and offhandedly spoke to the dazed Chiba lying on the ground next to him.

"You're better off staying outta my way kid." He began to squeeze the trigger, "You're nowhere close to my league." He took the shot.

* * *

Makoto heard a bang, and suddenly the dark grey porcelain head next to hers virtually exploded. She let out a gasp, suddenly being freed from her mental confinement and the mannequin fell to the ground. She quickly darted her gaze around the alley, and quickly found her savior. A menacing black plated creature stared down at her from above, a large strange pistol held in his hands.

She vaguely saw it nod at her, and a question was on her lips when she was violently yanked back to the present.

"No, Impossible!" Nephrite had found the object of her gaze as well, "You're not supposed to be here!" He exclaimed.

She was briefly confused, and then, out of her peripheral vision, she saw something come hurtling through the air at her. She caught it out of instinct, and when she looked down, she saw a strange green pen.

Suddenly, she heard the words that Usagi had spoken to her while she was in the creature's grasp.

" _Please, believe in love!"_

Suddenly, she knew what she was had to do. Raising the pen into the air she exclaimed, "Jupiter power, make up!"

* * *

Shepard started to leave about the time he heard that same blame shout. He prayed it didn't have to be a constant thing. He sent a look back at the recovering Chiba, and then saw a large flash of lightning spark up out of the alley way.

He had a few things he had to discuss with Antee'a. Specifically concerning the Gingers apparent familiarity with him.

He jumped over the concrete rail he had come over not a few minutes before, and then he was gone.

* * *

Later, deep within an unknown fortress, Nephrite kneeled before his mistress.

Queen Beyrl sneered down at the man as she hissed, "You had the Senshi at your mercy. What. Happened."

Nephrites eye remained cast toward the floor, "My queen, they were not alone."

There was a brief lapse of silence, "Continue."

His eyes turned toward her, "A Shepard was with them."

The fury dulled from Beryl's eyes. She learned back into her throne. "A Shepard." She spat, "Curse the multiverse and all its wiles."

Her eyes flashed back to the still kneeling man, "Bring the others Nephrite, we have little time."

* * *

 **Dun Dun Duh!**

 **First, I would like to say.**

 **I'M SO SORRY!**

 **If I'm being perfectly honest, I've had this chapter half written for a while, and then I started up into college this year and completely forgot about it. But here it is, the next installment. I hope it lived up to all your hopes and dreams.**

 **I did change a little bit of how the fight scene at the end goes, I hope that ok because its kinda to late to change it.**

 **Also, I'm gonna drop trying to use the -san and -chan things in here because I don't want to accidently screw it up and say something horribly wrong.**

 **Also! If it seems like Shepards speech patterns are a little different in this one, its because I kinda felt like he was talking a little to precisely in previous chapters. I have this habit that when I write characters, I tend to make them sound like their like 18th century British people or something…..I don't know…..maybe it's just me.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, hopefully the next one won't be to far away. As always if you have an idea or something you think needs to be added or changed PM or review or just review to review.**

 **Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that Jazz,**

 **JMB401**


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